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Girl, 10, Improving After Being Shot Playing In Spray Of Open Hydrant

CHICAGO (CBS) -- A 10-year-old girl who was shot while playing in the spray of an open fire hydrant on the West Side on Tuesday was doing better on Wednesday.

Kitanna Peterson was one of 16 people shot across the city Tuesday night and early Wednesday.

CBS 2's Suzanne Le Mignot talked with the girl's family on Wednesday, as Kitanna recovered at John H. Stroger Jr. Hospital of Cook County.

Kitanna was shot through her left wrist and the bullet went through her abdomen.

"She had her arms folded, and it went through both her wrist and through the stomach and came out the back," her uncle Homer Hardiman said.

Kitanna's family said she'll have to undergo physical therapy for her left hand.

She was initially listed in critical condition, but her grandmother said she was improving on Wednesday.

"She's fine. She's fine. She's a fighter," Jozette Carter said.

Kitanna and her stepfather were shot while cooling off in an open fire hydrant Tuedsay night in the Austin neighborhood.

"It was other kids out there, so whoever this was, he didn't care, or she didn't care, whoever did it," Carter said. "They just out there shooting, and there was a lot of kids out there, other than Kitanna."

"You know what kind of man do that? A fool. That's a fool. But he'll be caught. He'll be caught," Hardiman said. "The police will find him, or it will be street justice."

By street justice, Hardiman said he meant he was confident local residents would come forward with information about the shooter.

Carter said Kitanna, who will enter the 5th grade at St. Angela School in the fall, loves going to class. She had recently started summer school there.

"She's a very good girl. She tries hard at school. She's just a very energetic person," Carter said.

Peterson's stepfather was recovering from a gunshot wound to his heel. Police said he has a gang affiliation, and a criminal record, but his mother said she's not aware of any gang ties her son allegedly has.

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