A 3-year-old boy was shot Thursday as he sat inside of a car in Chicago’s Lawndale neighborhood. NBC 5’s Michelle Relerford has the story.
A toddler was struck by a stray bullet in a shooting on Chicago's West Side Thursday morning, according to police.
The shooting took place at around 9 a.m. in the 3300 block of West 13th Street in the city's Lawndale neighborhood, Chicago police said.
Chicago Police Chief of Patrol Fred Waller told reporters at the scene that the child, a 3-year-old boy, was sitting in a vehicle with his uncle, parked in front of the library while his aunt was inside using the building's copy machine.
"Subsequently two subjects armed with handguns came around the corner going eastbound [and] saw another subject on the street," Waller said. "We don't know if it was an exchange of gunfire or if these two subjects fired at this individual, subsequently firing into the vehicle where the 3-year-old and the uncle were sitting."
The toddler was struck in the arm, officials said, and taken to Stroger Hospital in serious but stable condition. His uncle, who was in the car with him at the time, was not injured, according to police.
The person who was the intended victim of the shooting, a 35-year-old man, was shot in the heel, authorities said. Waller said he fled the scene but was later taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in good condition.
A Chicago police squad car in the area at the time was also struck by gunfire, according to Waller, who said none of the officers were injured in the shooting.
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"This is another one of those situations that's totally unacceptable," Waller said, adding, "At this time of the day, for someone to come out that way - and that's why we think it's a targeted, not just a random but a targeted incident, probably the target was the person struck in the heel."
Authorities said detectives were checking surveillance cameras for footage of the incident, canvassing the area and interviewing witnesses, as well as using a K-9 to investigate.
No one is in custody in connection with the shooting, according to police, who said the investigation remains ongoing.
