UPDATE: Man Shot While Running His Dog West of the TREC Trail

This incident took place west of the TREC trail, not on the trail. The TREC trail IS open.

An Effingham man was shot Friday afternoon as he was running his dog west of the TREC Trail.

Police say David Koester, 21 of Effingham, was running his dog in the river bottoms west of the TREC trail when he heard gunshots. One of those shots struck him in the left calf.

Koester called 911 from his cell phone at 12:27pm to report he'd been shot, then made his way up the hill from the bottoms to where his vehicle was located, along Evergreen Drive, just west of the TREC Trail entrance. Koester was taken by ambulance to HSHS St. Anthony's Memorial Hospital. He has since been treated and released, and even returned to the scene of the search shortly before it ended. Koester's dog Kyloh went missing after the shooting. A large local effort was undertaken to locate the dog, who had initially been spotted near Keller Drive in Effingham.

UPDATE: Incredibly, Kyloh was found Tuesday near Lithia Springs, located on Lake Shelbyville. Kyloh was thinner, a post on Koester's Facebook page said, but unharmed.

(HERE'S A PHOTO OF DAVID KOESTER'S DOG, KYLOH)

Effingham County Sheriff David Mahon said at this point, they don't know who fired the shots. Authorities also don't know whether the incident was an accident, but believe that Koester was injured by a stray round. It's also not known whether the person who fired the shots knew that one of the shots struck someone.

An Illinois State Police plane performed an aerial search of the area, in hopes of locating the person that may have fired the shots, and officers searched the area on foot, but did not find the person. Shortly before 4pm, the sheriff said authorities decided to secure the area for now and end any further searches.

Sheriff Mahon is asking anyone with any information on the incident to contact local authorities. He also asked any hunters who have trail cameras in place in the search area to check them for any photos of someone who has been in the area and to notify authorities if anything turns up.