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Dad Charged After Boy Shoots Baby Brother

CHICAGO (CBS) -- An Englewood neighborhood father is facing gun charges, after the man's son accidentally shot his baby brother with an unattended firearm.

Levar T. Jones, 26, of the 6300 block of South Laflin Street, was charged with owning a gun without having a valid firearm identification owners card, a felony, according to police News Affairs Officer Robert Perez.

LISTEN: WBBM Newsradio's Regine Schlesinger reports

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Perez said Jones was not eligible to have an FOID card.

Because two children were placed in danger, Jones was also charged with two misdemeanor counts of endangering the life and health of a child and one count of reckless conduct, according to Perez.

The 7-month-old boy was shot in the leg around 7:40 p.m. Wednesday in the Laflin Street home. His 7-year-old brother had found a loaded, unattended .38 caliber revolver in a bedroom, police said.

The child didn't know the weapon was real and fired a shot that hit his baby brother, leaving the infant with a wound that went completely through the soft tissue of his leg, police said.

Emergency crews took the baby to University of Chicago Comer Children's Hospital, Fire Media Affairs Director Larry Langford said.

The child was transported in serious-to-critical condition, but has since stabilized and was sleeping early Thursday, according to police and fire officials.

Neighbors described a chaotic scene as police rushed in to assist.

"The street was covered with police, the fire truck and the ambulance," Gale Moore said. "And about 5 or 10 minutes later, they brought the baby out, covered. ... And then the cover blew off and it was a baby."

In the 911 call about the shooting, sources said a woman's voice could be heard saying "My baby's been shot by my son."

A mother and grandmother, as well as four other children from the family, were in the home at the time but not in the bedroom where the baby was shot, police said.

Authorities found five other guns in the home and are still working to determine who owns the weapons, police said.

The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services was called in to investigate, police said.

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