Infant among 3 shot in Old Town; suspects in custody

A 5-month-old boy and two men were in the 1300 block of North Hudson Avenue when they were shot, police said.

Chicago police brief reporters outside Lurie Children’s Hospital July 16, 2020, after three people were shot, including a baby, in Old Town.

Three people, including a 5-month-old boy, were shot Thursday in Old Town on the North Side.

The shooting happened about 7 p.m. in the 1300 block of North Hudson Avenue, First Deputy Supt. Eric Carter said during a brief news conference outside Lurie Children’s Hospital.

A 5-month-old boy was grazed in the temple and taken to Lurie, where he was stabilized and “resting comfortably,” Carter said. Two men, 19 and 25, were also shot; both are stabilized at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

Carter said officers responded to the scene and quickly received descriptions of a shooter and a vehicle.

After broadcasting those descriptions, officers tracked the vehicle to the intersection of Princeton Avenue and 37th Street and took two people into custody without incident, Carter said, noting that investigators are looking into whether another person was inside the vehicle at the time of the shooting. Two weapons were recovered during the arrest.

Carter didn’t provide any possible motive for the attack, and it’s still unclear whether the victims are related.

He called the shooting “heartbreaking” and noted that violence involving children “is not normal for anyone, whether it’s Chicago or any other city around this country.”

“They are in harm’s way no matter who the intended victim was,” he said. “There’s no regard for anyone’s life, especially that of a child who has yet to even grow up and experience this world. That’s quite tragic.”

The last few weeks have seen several children wounded or killed by gun violence in Chicago. Last month, 1-year-old Sincere Gaston was killed in a shooting in Englewood. Lena Nuez, 10, was fatally shot when a bullet tore through her window in Logan Square.

Carter urged community members to come forward with information and asked prosecutors and activists to “get on board to help us turn the tide of what’s happening in our community.”

At the scene of the shooting, inside the area cordoned off by police tape, multiple shell casing markers could be seen spread across the ground near the entrance to the Marshall Field Garden Apartments.

Just outside the taped off area, a young woman sold chips and other snacks as others congregated by a nearby corner while officers investigated. As passersby stopped and talked, Shavon Harris live-streamed from the scene.

Harris, who was returning home from work at an Amazon fulfillment center, said she was deeply troubled by the series of recent shootings that have victimized children as gun violence has spiked across the city.

The violence is “typical” for the area, said Harris, who is now worried for the safety of her own 8-year-old son.

“It’s ridiculous. This violence is getting out of hand,” added Harris. “It’s senseless violence every day.”