5 shot at, 1 dead after fight at Illinois campus party

CHAMPAIGN: One man was killed and four other people were wounded in a pair of shootings early on Sunday, including one that happened on the University of Illinois

CHAMPAIGN: One man was killed and four other people were wounded in a pair of shootings early on Sunday, including one that happened on the University of Illinois campus.

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Police believe the two shootings in the eastern Illinois city of Champaign may be related. They say the first apparently stemmed from an argument shortly after midnight at an apartment party on Green Street, the commercial heart of the campus.

“Our preliminary investigation completely points to an argument taking place at the party and the argument spilled out into the street and that’s when a fight occurred,” Champaign police spokeswoman LaEisha Meaderds said, adding the reasons for the fight aren’t clear yet.

Shots were fired as the fight escalated, striking four people, she said. One of those shot, 22-year-old George Korchev, was killed. Less than half an hour later, police received a report of another shooting a few blocks west of campus.