Shots fired from one vehicle into another on a Chicago street killed a 20-month-old boy sitting in his car seat, according to reports.
The drive-by shooting Saturday afternoon in the Englewood neighborhood marked the second time in a week a young child had become an innocent victim of Chicago’s tragic gun violence.
“It seems like just yesterday, it was actually last Saturday, I was in front of you all talking about a 3-year-old that was killed in the Austin community, and now here in Englewood, a 20-month-old was killed,” Chicago Police Chief of Operations Fred Waller said, according to CBS 2 Chicago.
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“This is happening far too often,” he said. “Too many times children are killed by senseless violence, and not only just children but grownups also. When is this going to stop? When are we going to say enough is enough?”
A 3-year-old boy, Mekhi James, was also the victim of a drive-by shooting. He was sitting in a car his father was driving when he was struck.
Police said the toddler was shot in the chest. A bullet grazed his 22-year-old mother in the head.
They were driving home from a laundromat.
Seven shots were fired at her vehicle, according to police.
Detectives believe the boy’s mother may have been targeted, the station reported.
Waller said detectives were working “feverishly” to review video footage from nearby cameras, and to canvass the area for witnesses.
“No doubt we’ll catch the person who did it. We’ll catch the person who killed that 3-year-old. We’ll catch the person who killed this kid. But that’s not going to bring that kid back, and that’s not going to satisfy that family,” Waller said.
