New Haven — In the wake of an illegal auto "stunt show" in the parking lot of the Lowe's store on Foxon Boulevard that resulted in a woman being shot, police are talking to state police and "our federal partners" about coordinated efforts to address such events, both in New Haven and elsewhere, Police Chief Karl Jacobson said.

"Obviously, it's an escalation to gunshots," Jacobson said Tuesday, two days after the event that attracted what on video appeared to be hundreds of people to the parking lot of Lowe's. While the stunt show, which was reported about 1 a.m. Sunday, was similar to past events involving illegal drag races at Long Wharf and on Ella T. Grasso Boulevard, in this case "somebody decided to fire a gun and a woman was shot in the crowd," Jacobson said.

The victim was a 17-year-old from Waterbury, he said. Police previously said the woman was shot while running away after vehicles allegedly struck pedestrians in the crowd. Her injuries were non-life-threatening and she is expected to recover, said police Lt. Brian McDermott, who commands the Police Department's East Shore District.

"Of course, it's terrible that she was a victim of a gunshot wound to her leg," McDermott said.

The home improvement store is at 115 Foxon Blvd., adjacent to Walmart and behind the McDonald's off Route 80, just east of Interstate 95's Exit 8.

Many of the participants in such events come from beyond city lines, with advance notice of the event spread on social media, said Jacobson. In fact, "Most of them are out of town," Jacobson said. "We see people from New York and Massachusetts kind of meet in the middle. That's New Haven."

But, "you need a lot of personnel to go after people," Jacobson said. That's why "we reached out to the state police and our federal partners" about getting them involved "in shutting it down, not just here but everywhere," Jacobson said.

"It's a huge coordination to make sure you're out there at the right time," he said. "We're talking about it, but I don't know" when such broader efforts might begin.

How would police catch and ticket participants in an illegal event attended by hundreds of people?

"You pretty much box them in," Jacobson said.

He pointed out that police responded to the incident while also investigating a homicide scene, another shooting scene and "a really bad pedestrian (accident) scene on Whalley Avenue.

But for any future events, there is "lots of new technology" police can employ, including "Stop Sticks," which puncture the tires of fleeing vehicles, and GPS monitors that can be placed on vehicles to track their movements without chasing them, Jacobson said.

Concerning Sunday's incident, Jacobson said he did not know whether any Lowe's employees were present at that hour. Several Lowe's managers declined to comment and referred questions to the home improvement store's Mooresville, N.C., headquarters. Lowe's media relations representatives did not respond to multiple inquiries over two days.

McDermott said he wasn't surprised by the event, which he also said was similar to the races that have gone on in the past at Long Wharf and along Ella T. Grasso Boulevard, among other places.

"People do these things — they refer to them as meet-ups — and sometime someone will split off" and do something separate from the main event, McDermott said. People organize "impromptu stunt shows" and "people show up from all over the state," he said

While there were reports of vehicles allegedly striking pedestrians in the crowd while attempting stunts Sunday, "right now we don't have any confirmed reports of somebody struck by vehicles ... at least to the point where they had to go to the hospital," McDermott said.

But "Lowe's definitely has cameras in the area and we're reviewing the videos from them," he said. "We're working with Lowe's. I've been in contact with their store manager.

"This is a serious investigation of a major felony. ... We'd rather get it done right than get it done fast," McDermott said.

In addition, "We're working to try to set up some environmental design changes to make it less desirable for these events," he said.

Over the past several years, "one of the things we've worked on is making sure that they stay off the streets as much as possible," McDermott said. "In the past, they've taken over city streets. ... Their reaction to that has been to try to take this activity" onto private party such as the Lowe's parking lot, he said.

"Obviously, keeping it off the public streets is a priority for us," he said.

But "everybody who's attending this is a participant on some level," McDermott said.

More broadly, "We've been planning on addressing this larger issue in a bigger way for a while," McDermott said. Some of that "requires additional training for our officers."