PROVIDENCE — A woman who was driving with her four children in the West End, going to or from religious services, is recovering after having been wounded by a stray gunshot Saturday, according to the police.

Oluwatoyin O. Fagbote, 38, of 206 Messer St., was shot in the hand as one vehicle chased another on Union Avenue in the vicinity of Althea Street and shots were fired from the pursuing vehicle, the police said.

Fagbote was behind the wheel of a green minivan, with her four children as passengers, and had nothing to do with the vehicles that were chasing one another. The children, three girls ages 10, 8 and 5, and a boy, age 2, were visibly upset but were not physically injured, the police said.

Their mother was treated at Rhode Island Hospital. Detective Lt. Robert Lepre said yesterday that the police had put a social-services agency, Family Service of Rhode Island, in touch with the family for possible counseling regarding the traumatic incident.

“Thank God, it could have been a lot worse,” Lepre said.

The incident occurred at about 4 p.m., according to the police, as a black vehicle pursued a white sport utility vehicle that had been reported stolen in Johnston.

One or more occupants of the black vehicle fired at least three shots at those in the white SUV, Lepre said, and a short time later, the white SUV clipped a fence and the corner of a house at 182 Althea and came to a sudden halt when it crashed into a parked car behind the house. The SUV crash occurred about two blocks from the site of the shooting.

As the white SUV and the black vehicle had passed Fagbote’s minivan, she was shot, the police said. She stopped her minivan at the intersection of Union and Althea, her hand bleeding profusely, and switched on her emergency flashers until officers arrived, according to a police report.

The black vehicle left the area, and the four occupants of the white SUV got out and were seen by the police escaping through the backyards in the neighborhood. Lepre said he is not sure why there was a chase and gunfire.

“It’s an open investigation,” he said. “We’re looking at a couple of things.”

gsmith@projo.com