VALDOSTA — A woman is fighting for her life in South Georgia Medical Center after being shot Tuesday, police said Wednesday afternoon.

At about 7 p.m. Tuesday, Valdosta police went to SGMC after hospital staff reported a 26-year-old woman had been brought to the emergency room with a gunshot wound to the upper torso, a Valdosta Police Department statement said.

While officers were at the hospital, other callers reported that another woman was in the 700 block of East Park Avenue shooting a gun. As officers arrived on the scene, witnesses said the shooting suspect was trying to leave the scene in a vehicle. Police caught up with her and took her into custody without incident.

Police determined that the two incidents were related; an investigation showed the two women were involved in a fight, the statement said.

Other people broke the fight up, and the victim left the scene in a vehicle. The suspect got a handgun and shot at the vehicle several times, hitting the victim, police said.

The car’s driver drove the victim, a passenger, straight to SGMC, the statement said.

The suspect, described as a 30-year-old Valdosta woman, was interviewed by detectives and taken to the county jail, where police said she was being held on pending charges for two counts of aggravated assault (felony), aggravated battery (felony) and possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime (felony).

Police said the victim was in critical condition in SGMC as of Wednesday afternoon.

“We are so thankful for the witnesses that assisted our officers in identifying this offender and getting her into custody so quickly,” VPD Chief Leslie Manahan said in a statement.

Terry Richards is senior reporter at The Valdosta Daily Times.