Police in Mount Vernon are searching for the gunman who shot a man sitting in a car Friday.

Police rushed to North Street after receiving a 911 call about shots fired around 1:30 p.m. As police were recovering evidence from the scene, they got a second call about a man at the hospital with a gunshot wound.

Police say the 22-year-old victim was shot while sitting in the passenger seat of an SUV. Police aren?t sure what triggered the shooting. They say a couple may have been with the shooter at the time of the incident.

The shooting comes as the city tries to quell a recent wave of violence. It is the third shooting to take place in the city in a month?s time. The latest shooting occurred one block away from Columbus Elementary School.

"It just shows the attitude and the callousness of these people that they would commit an act like this so close to a school," Mount Vernon Police Commissioner David Chong said.

The victim is in critical but stable condition at the hospital.

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