Father shoots male accused of severely beating his daughter, cops say: 'It’s hard to blame a parent'

A southwestern Illinois father shot a male accused of severely beating his daughter earlier this week, police said.

What are the details?

A woman who had been severely beaten showed up at her parents’ home around 2:30 a.m. Tuesday, KTVI-TV reported.

Wood River police told the station the woman’s father tracked down the man accused of harming his daughter and shot him in the middle of a street. The shooting took place off North 6th Street by Lewis and Clark Junior High School, police added to KTVI.

As it happens, the two men shot each other, police told the station.

Both were transported to St. Louis-area hospitals — one by ambulance and one by helicopter, police said. Wood River is about a half-hour north of St. Louis.

More from KTVI:

FOX 2 spoke with neighbors off camera who said they witnessed the shooting. One neighbor said that after he heard a pop, he stepped outside and saw the older man standing over the younger one, pointing a gun at him. He heard the younger man beg the older man not to shoot him, followed by the older man saying, “That’s my daughter! She means everything to me!”

After that, he said he watched as the older man shot the younger one and then waited for police to arrive. He said the older man did not appear severely injured from his vantage point, while he heard the younger man screaming in pain.

Police have not released the names of two men and haven't said if either has been charged, the station said, adding that police intend to turn over the case to the Madison County state’s attorney once the investigation is over.

'It's hard to blame a parent'

Longtime resident Mildred Rulo told the station the incident isn't an everyday thing in Wood River.

“My thought is, 'I’m just glad they knew each other,'” Rulo noted to KTVI.

She added to the station that she still feels safe in the area: "If I thought someone was going around the neighborhood shooting people just for the fun of it, I would have been sure the doors was locked. And I’d be more careful about who I opened the door to."

Another resident sympathized with the dad but thought things went too far, KTVI said

“It’s hard to blame a parent," Dawn Howard noted to the station. "There’s five girls in our family, and I can see all of our dads going after a guy. But with a gun? No. Beat him up; don’t shoot him.”

Details on Wood River, Illinois double shooting emergeyoutu.be

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