A 1-year-old boy sitting in a parked car in Chicago on Feb. 7. was shot in the head, police officials said.
The boy was sitting in the back passenger side of the parked vehicle when a dark sedan pulled up and someone inside the sedan shot into the parked car, hitting the infant in the head, reported CBS.
The vehicle belonged to the boy’s grandmother, who was in the driver’s seat.
She told police that she had stopped in front of a relative’s house when she heard her car windows shatter and looked back to see her grandson shot in the head, reported the Chicago Sun-Times. A picture of the SUV showed it riddled with bullets.
She rushed the boy from the Longwood Manor neighborhood on the South Side to Little Company of Mary Hospital.
The boy was in critical condition and was transferred to Comer Children’s Hospital.
The four other people in the vehicle were not hit.
Detectives are investigating the shooting and are looking into whether the shooter had the wrong target.
A 1-year-old boy was critically wounded, shot in the head while in the back seat of a car parked on the Far South Side Thursday evening, police said. https://t.co/oZ3lSQoKy0
— Chicago Tribune (@chicagotribune) February 8, 2019
Latest updates: A 1-year-old boy was shot in the back of his grandma’s car in front of a family home. I’m told police are looking into whether this was a case of mistaken identity. As of 20 minutes ago, the baby was in critical condition but still alive. https://t.co/HZi7PiF7UH
— Nader Issa (@NaderDIssa) February 8, 2019
We are praying for this young boy as detectives search area for possible crime & traffic cameras that may have captured the offending vehicles direction of flight. Anyone who may have been driving in 9900 BLK of S. Throop & witnessed incident send info to https://t.co/g9Q1Srtgmc https://t.co/G6l9BFWPXK
— Anthony Guglielmi (@AJGuglielmi) February 8, 2019
“We are praying for this young boy as detectives search area for possible crime & traffic cameras that may have captured the offending vehicles direction of flight,” Chicago Police Department spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said via Twitter.
Anyone driving in the 9900 block of South Throop and witnessed the shooting was asked to send info to the police.
The Rev. Michael Pfleger, a South Side priest, offered $5,000 for anyone who identifies the shooter by Sunday night.
A ONE YEAR OLD BOY was SHOT in the HEAD tonight at 99th and Throop…We MUST Identify this Shooter in the next 72 Hrs..$5000
由 Michael Pfleger 发布于 2019年2月7日周四
Family speaks out after 1-year-old boy shot on Chicago’s South Side https://t.co/vDJa442Ghd pic.twitter.com/wuEm7I9eQf
— NBC Chicago (@nbcchicago) February 8, 2019
Family Member Speaks Out
The 1-year-old boy was identified by family members as Dijon Walker but said he goes by Chase. Relatives said that he remained on life support early Friday.
“We need to put these guns down,” the child’s grandfather Melvin Freeman told NBC. “The summer is coming, we need to put them down. Our babies are dying. We need to stop doing this, could we please put these guns down and let these babies live? Let these babies live.”
Freeman said that currently, things aren’t looking good for his grandson.
“He’s on life support and it doesn’t look good,” Freeman said. “He was just a baby.”
Breaking down, he added: “He was walking, he was a fun, he was a fun baby. He made your day.”
