Toddler shot in road rage incident out of intensive care, showing ‘remarkable progress’ hospital says

A child wounded in a road rage shooting incident on Lake Shore Drive earlier this month continues to improve and has been moved out of the pediatric intensive care unit at Lurie Children’s Hospital.

Dr. Marcelo Malakooti, medical director of the pediatric intensive care unit at Lurie Children, told reporters Monday that 22-month-old Kayden Swann is now breathing on his own and is moving all his extremities. It’s “very good news” and “remarkable progress,” he said.

Though Kayden’s initial prognosis seemed grim, his health has gradually improved since the shooting. Doctors removed Kayden from a medically-induced coma about a week ago.

Kayden is now moving spontaneously. He’s responding to treatment and is alert and active, said Malakooti, who remains optimistic about his continued recovery.

“He’s obviously suffered a great head injury and he has had an extremely positive outcome,” Malakooti said Monday. “I’m grateful to all of our physicians, our nurses, our respiratory therapist who have worked around the clock to ensure that Kayden could have the best chance that he could have.”

The boy’s family has remained at his bedside for the last couple of weeks and are encouraged with his progress, Malakooti said.

Malakooti said that ultimately, the “prognoses are very good” but Kayden will “require very intense rehabilitation to ensure he continues to make progress.”

Kayden was shot about 11 a.m. April 6 on Lake Shore Drive near Grant Park after a traffic dispute turned violent. One driver shot into the car Kayden was sitting in, striking the toddler in the head, police said.

Prosecutors have said the altercation started when an SUV tried to merge onto Lake Shore Drive near Soldier Field and nearly struck the car Kayden was riding in.

There have been no arrests in the shooting as of Monday, a spokeswoman for the Chicago Police Department said.