‘Heart-wrenching and alarming’: Boy, 11, wounded in 2 separate drive-by shootings within 49 hours

YAKIMA, Wash. - For the second time in 49 hours, an 11-year-old boy suffered a gunshot wound to the leg after a drive-by shooting.

Yakima police officers responded to the first shooting at 11:50 p.m. on July 4. The boy was transported to a hospital and released after having his leg treated.

Officers returned to the same house shortly after midnight on July 7 and learned that the boy had again been shot in the leg. But this time, he was not the only one injured. His 9-year-old sister suffered two wounds to her legs.

The siblings were treated and released from the hospital later that day.

Investigators are trying to determine why the family is being targeted.

A young boy in Washington suffered injuries in two different drive-by shootings over the span of 49 hours.(Credit: ALEX EDELMAN/AFP via Getty Images)

“Someone knows who did this and should come forward with the necessary information to help,” Yakima Police Chief Matt Murray said in a news release. "It can even be done anonymously by contacting Crime Stoppers. Do the right thing and help make Yakima a safer place.”

After the second shooting, officers recovered more than 60 shell casings from the scene. Murray called this level of violence “heart-wrenching and alarming.“

“The police department’s top priority is the reduction of violent crime - and these incidents are a glaring example of why,” Murray stressed. “But this is a community issue and we need the community’s help to solve it and prevent further violence.”

The Fourth of July weekend proved to be particularly violent for young children across the nation.

RELATED: Fourth of July weekend shootings across the U.S. result in the deaths of at least 6 children

Gunfire claimed the lives of a 6-year-old boy in San Francisco, a 7-year-old girl in Chicago, an 11-year-old boy in Washington DC, an 8-year-old boy in Hoover, Alabama and an 8-year-old girl in Atlanta.

This story was reported from Atlanta.