A shooting near an elementary school Tuesday critically injured a man in a vehicle and damaged at least one bystander's car, leaving Des Moines police searching for answers amid a year of increased gun violence.

A 23-year-old Des Moines resident was shot in the head on Des Moines' northwest side at about 2 p.m., police said. He was not immediately identified.

Des Moines police received a call around 2 p.m. regarding a shooting at 30th Street and Hickman Road, the site of Monroe Elementary School.

Shortly after the call, police received a report that the victim had been driven to Broadlawns Medical Center, about a mile away, with a serious gunshot wound. He was transferred to Iowa Methodist Medical Center and is in critical condition.

As of 9:30 p.m., there were no updates on the victim's condition or whether an arrest was made.

"It's not looking very good right now for him," said Sgt. Paul Parizek, spokesman for Des Moines police.

There were several occupants in the victim's vehicle, Parizek said.

Another vehicle passing by the intersection was struck by gunfire. The driver of the car stopped by the 4300 block of Hickman Road and called police, Parizek said. The man was not harmed and later returned to the scene of the shooting so that officers could investigate the car.

All of the witnesses interviewed by police were shaken up, Parizek said.

Although it's unknown how the victim was shot, police said the incident could have happened during an exchange of gunfire between two vehicles.

Police said the man whose car was damaged was an innocent person who was in the wrong place at the wrong time.

"That’s one of the most dangerous pieces of this,” Parizek said. “When they bring this kind of terror to the streets, they have no regard for anyone."

That prospect is reminiscent of some high-profile shootings in Des Moines in which bystanders were fatally shot. In September, a grandmother was killed by a stray bullet while she waited for her 10-year-old granddaughter in a Family Dollar parking lot. The bullet came from a block away and killed 61-year-old Barbara Perry.

That scene reminded Parizek of Phyllis Davis, another innocent bystander who was shot and killed in 1995. Davis, 42, was on her way home from work when a bullet struck and killed her in her vehicle in Des Moines.

Next door to Tuesday's shooting, youths were finishing up the school day at Monroe Elementary. The school was locked down from 2 to 2:30 p.m., said Phil Roeder, Des Moines schools spokesman. No one was allowed in the building during that time, but classes took place as scheduled.

Several Monroe Elementary parents waiting to pick up their children Tuesday said they were not shocked by the shooting. They said the news was frightening, particularly with the Monroe playground a short walk from the crime scene.

Wendy Martinez, 40, of Ankeny parked a few blocks away from the school to pick up her 7-year-old son while the roads were blocked off for the investigation.

“Unfortunately, I’m not surprised,” Martinez said. “It’s scary it happened so close.”

She said the school did a good job of keeping the children safe.

Martinez said her son and other students in the school weren’t told about the shooting. She said that she talked to him about it and that he understands what's going on around him. He was in class during the shooting.

“With our time and age, this type of stuff is happening,” Martinez said. “For us, it’s just about minding our own business.”

While some parents picked up their children at the front door of the school, staff members helped other youths around the crime scene to their destinations.

Detectives are speaking to the occupants in the victim's vehicle. Parizek said the woman whose vehicle was shot was cooperating with the investigation.

Parizek said it was too early to know if the shooting was gang-related, but he said there was a blatant disregard for human life with this violence.

"You get these thugs rolling around just shooting at each other," he said. "They don’t think beyond the end of the gun.”

For more than a year, many Des Moines homicides and other shootings have had a common theme of a lack of cooperation from witnesses, and sometimes even victims.

"We've talked about this I don't know how many times over the last 18 months," Parizek said. "These cases become difficult to piece together. The community's assistance is always needed."

Detectives are asking that anyone who was near 30th Street and Hickman Road at about 2 p.m. call Des Moines police at 515-283-4811 or Crime Stoppers of Central Iowa at 515-223-1400.

Check DesMoinesRegister.com for updates.

Map:Homicides in Des Moines in last three years