Two children shot as motorist opens fire on their car outside University of Mississippi hospital

Two small children were injured Thursday when a motorist pulled up to a car outside University of Mississippi Medical Center in Jackson and opened fire into the vehicle, police said.

Police Chief James Davis said that a 1-year-old child was shot in the leg and that a 3-year-old child was shot in the chest. A spokesman for the hospital said their injuries weren't believed to be life-threatening.

Davis told NBC affiliate WLBT of Jackson that the shooter appeared to have targeted the car intentionally.

"It wasn't an isolated incident," he said. "That person pulled up to that particular car, fired in that particular car for unknown reasons. Nobody else's car was fired into."

In a separate briefing for reporters, Davis said police began receiving calls that shots had been at a garage outside the hospital shortly before 5:30 p.m. (6:30 p.m. ET). He said the shooter was driving a small black Nissan sedan with paper tags when "the individual pulled up to them, let the window down, put their arm outside the car and fired shots into them."

The children's mother, who wasn't injured, grabbed her children and ran into the garage, said Davis, who said the woman "has no idea who it was."

The suspect remained at large Thursday night, police said.

Davis dismissed reports of a "active shooter" on campus after the hospital sent a message alerting the community to an active shooter in a parking lot. The alert urged people: "RUN to safety. HIDE in locked room. FIGHT as a last resort and only when your life is in danger."