The metro's recent shootings are placing more pressure on area emergency rooms as doctors try to keep gunshot injuries from turning into gunshot deaths.

Dr. Pete Daher, with Creighton University Medical Center, says that in his 15 years at Creighton he has seen an increasing number of shootings and he has seen younger victims.

He says, "In all, it seems like most gun-related shootings are gang-related and in terms of that seem to be in the same to be in the same category age-group-wise."

Those typically being rolled into the ER are in their late teens and early twenties. By then gangs are just a part of their lives.

The doctor says that even kids with good parents have fallen victim.

He says he has also seen more victims who are not being transported by ambulance -- drop-offs who are sometimes waiting hours before they seek help as critical minutes tick by.

Dr. Daher says, "A lot of times they try to hide something, some crime they've committed and they think they can take care of it at home -- maybe an extremity; an arm; a leg shot. But these, too, can be very critical and very deadly."

Dr. Daher says even for those type of injuries survival depends on how quickly a victim gets to the hospital. He says within 10 minutes of a shooting is usually ideal.