Source: Police Questioning Suspect in 9-Year-OId's Shooting

Police on Saturday were questioning a suspect in connection with the shooting of a 9-year-old boy on Chicago's South Side earlier this week, a police source told NBC Chicago.

The 9-year-old boy was in critical condition Thursday after he was shot in the chest while riding in a car with his mother on Chicago's South Side, officials said.

The boy was wounded in a shooting the prior evening in the 6700 block of South Evans Avenue, family said.

He was taken to University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital where he was immediately taken into surgery.

Detectives said they believe the boy's mother drove him to the hospital. Police looked for bullet holes in the family vehicle and found none.

The mother was driving with her boyfriend, an alleged gang member, in the front seat when the boyfriend was recognized by a man in the street, a police source familiar with the investigation told NBC Chicago.

The man shot at the car, aiming for the mother's boyfriend, but the bullet instead hit the 9-year-old boy, the source said.

There were five children in the car at the time of the shooting, according to the source.

The suspect was in custody on Saturday and detectives were talking to the suspect, a law enforcement source said.

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