20-Month-Old Boy Shot And Killed In Englewood, Mom Also Wounded; 21 People Shot, 7 Killed So Far This Weekend
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A 20-month-old boy was killed, and his mother was grazed by a bullet, when they were shot while driving home from the laundromat Saturday afternoon in the Englewood neighborhood.
Chicago Police Chief of Operations Fred Waller said, shortly after 2 p.m., the boys' mother was driving south on Halsted Street near 60th Street, on the way home from the laundromat, with the toddler in a child seat in the back of the car, when another car pulled up alongside them, and someone inside started shooting.
The boy was shot once in the chest, and a bullet grazed the mother's head, according to Waller.
The mother, who is 22 years old, drove to St. Bernard Hospital, where her son was pronounced dead. She was later transferred to the University of Chicago Medical Center.
"It seems like just yesterday, it was actually last Saturday, I was in front of you all talking about a 3-year-old that was killed in the Austin community, and now here in Englewood, a 20-month-old was killed," Waller said. "This is happening far too often. Too many times children are killed by senseless violence, and not only just children, but grown-ups also. When is this going to stop? When are we going to say enough is enough?"
Pastor Donovan Price said he consoled the boy's mother and father as they grieved for their son.
"Today, I just want to sit on the side of the curb … like the mom was at one point. I just want to sit on the side of the curb, and shake my head, and cry," Pastor Donovan Price said. "If you're not mad, if you're not outraged, if you're not heartbroken about this, then what will you be heartbroken about, and do you have a heart?"
"It's all bad. There's a term 'it's all bad.' Well, this, it's all bad," Price added. "I would like to see the silver lining, but this is all bad."
Waller said the shooting did not appear to be random. He said detectives were working "feverishly" to review video footage from nearby cameras, and to canvass the area for witnesses.
No weapon has been recovered, but based on the shell casings at the scene, Waller said the shooter was using a handgun.
"No doubt we'll catch the person who did it. We'll catch the person who killed that 3-year-old. We'll catch the person who killed this kid. But that's not going to bring that kid back, and that's not going to satisfy that family," Waller said.
Multiple groups have offered rewards for information leading to the arrest and conviction of the shooter. The rewards total at least $39,000.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot, in a series of tweets on Saturday, noted a 17-year-old boy also was shot and killed on Saturday, writing "The pain of losing a child never goes away. ... I am tired of the funerals. I am tired of burying our children."
"It's on all of us. It's on all of us to find the courage to be a part of the solution," she wrote. "It's on all of us to double down on our all-hands-on-deck public safety efforts with police officers, street outreach teams, trauma support workers, community and faith-based partners. We must ask ourselves: "What are we each doing to make this a season of bounty, not tragedy?"
Chicago Police Supt. David Brown also issued a statement Saturday night:
"We ALL need to be outraged by the violence we are seeing in our city. This baby, and all of our residents, deserve better. This is not just a problem that Englewood needs to solve. This is not just a problem on the South Side or the West Side. We cannot compartmentalize the violence that is tearing families and communities apart. Someone knows something. For the sake of Chicago's children, please come forward to help bring the trigger pullers to justice."
The boy is at least the fifth child under age 10 to be shot in Chicago in the last week-and-a-half, and the second to be killed.
One week ago, 3-year-old Mekhi James was shot and killed while riding in an SUV with his stepfather on the 600 block of North Central Avenue. The 27-year-old stepfather, who police believed to be the target of the shooting, suffered a graze wound to the abdomen and drove to West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park. Mekhi was pronounced dead at the same hospital.
On June 17, a 9-year-old girl was among four people shot in the 1300 block of West 76th Street in Auburn Gresham. The girl was shot in the right leg and was reported in good condition at the University of Chicago's Comer Children's Hospital. Men ages 31, 25 and 19 were also wounded in that incident.
On June 18, a 5-year-old boy was shot in the buttocks in the 700 block of West 50th Place in Back of the Yards and was taken to a local hospital. A 19-year-old man was also wounded in that shooting.
On Monday, a 3-year-old girl was grazed by a bullet in Chicago Lawn. The girl and a 33-year-old woman were outside a home at 6521 S. Claremont Ave. when someone in a tan vehicle fired shots from inside, police said. The girl was grazed by a bullet and taken to Comer Children's Hospital in good condition. The woman was not shot.
Including the shooting of the boy and his mother, so far this weekend, since 5 p.m. Friday, at least 21 people have been shot in Chicago, seven of them fatally.
The other fatal shootings include:
- A 42-year-old man who was shot in the Austin neighborhood Friday evening. Police said the victim was on the sidewalk on the 200 block of North Leclaire Avenue around 5:42 p.m. Friday, when someone came out of an alleyway and shot him in the head. The victim was taken to Mount Sinai Hosptial, where he was pronounced dead.
- A 33-year-old man who was shot in the Chatham neighborhood Saturday morning. Police said the man walked into a home on the 9300 block of South Lyon Avenue around 6:20 a.m., and began striking children who were in the house. When a female inside the home intervened, he started choking her, and she grabbed a nearby revolver and shot him. The man was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.
- A 30-year-old man was shot in the Englewood neighborhood Saturday morning. Police said, around 6:50 a.m., the man was found sitting in a Chevy Tahoe when witnesses heard gunshots, and saw a 2003 Nissan speed away from the scene. The man was pronounced dead at the scene from a gunshot wound to the head.
- A 25-year-old man was shot in the Lawndale neighborhood Saturday morning. Police said he was on foot on the 1300 block of South Springfield Avenue around 10:25 a.m., when a silver vehicle drove by, and someone shot him in the left side of the body. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
- A 17-year-old boy was shot in the Humboldt Park neighborhood Saturday morning. Police said he was in a large group of people when he got into an argument with someone who pulled out a gun and shot him in the chest. He was taken to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
- A male of unknown age was shot in the Brighton Park neighborhood Saturday afternoon. Police said, around 3:50 p.m., officers responded to a call of a person shot on the 4400 block of South Kedzie Avenue, and found the victim with a gunshot wound to his head. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
