Man charged in 9-year-old boy's shooting

A South Side man was ordered held in lieu of $600,000 bail Thursday for allegedly firing a gun into a car full of children and injuring a 9-year-old boy back in 2013.

The victim, his mother, her boyfriend and five other children — ages 1, 4, 6, 7 and 13 — were in the car in the 6700 block of Evans Avenue when Ricky Webster fired four to five shots, Assistant Cook County State’s Attorney Akash Vyas said.

Moments before the incident — which occurred on June 5, 2013 — the victim’s mother’s boyfriend had said “something gang-related” to a group of five to seven men standing on a sidewalk, Vyas said.

One of those men in the crowd shouted something to Webster, who was 16 at the time; that comment prompted Webster to shoot toward the vehicle, Vyas said.

The 9-year-old boy, sitting in the back passenger seat, suffered a gunshot wound to the chest, Vyas said. The boyfriend of the boy’s mother was driving the car and sped away from the scene as Webster allegedly kept shooting.

The victim has since made a full recovery, Vyas said.

A bullet was eventually recovered from the car and Webster, now 18, was detained two days after the incident, Vyas said.

It was unclear why and when he had been released. But Vyas said cellphone records indicated Webster was at the scene at the time of the shooting.

Webster, of the 6200 block of South Aberdeen Street, was also identified by the 13-year-old who was in the car and is distantly related to him.

Webster was arrested earlier this week at his high school, Excel Academy of South Shore, 7530 S. South Shore Dr., and charged with aggravated battery with a firearm.

He was found delinquent as a juvenile in a 2013 theft case, prosecutors said.