A 3-year-old was shot and killed while riding in a vehicle Saturday night in the Austin neighborhood on Chicago's West Side, police officials said.
The shooting was reported at approximately 6:30 p.m. in the 600 block of North Central Avenue. A 27-year-old man told police he was driving southbound on Central Avenue when an unknown occupant inside of a blue Honda fired shots, striking him and his 3-year-old male passenger.
The young child sustained a gunshot wound to the back and was taken to West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park where he was pronounced dead.
The 27-year-old male suffered a graze wound to the abdomen and refused medical treatment.
At the scene of the shooting Saturday evening, crisis responder and community activist Andrew Holmes called on people to step up and help find whoever's responsible.
"With all that's going on, the racial tension, the police brutality, the protests, what I'm asking, come on out here protest on this West Side, shut this West Side down, until we find out who discharged that weapon and took the life of this baby," he said.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot reacted to the child's death of Twitter saying "there are simply no words to describe such a heinous, unconscionable act of cowardice to shoot a toddler."
No arrests have been made as of Saturday evening.
