Mom Of 4-Year-Old Shot In Woodlawn: 'I Wish It Was Even Me'
Updated 06/29/16 - 11:47 a.m.
(CBS) -- A 4-year-old boy was shot in the face, and a woman was wounded in the head in a shooting in the Woodlawn neighborhood Tuesday night.
The incident happened near 64th and King Drive around 9:10 p.m., police said. Kavan Collins was walking with his family and a friend, after leaving a nearby park so his mother could change his baby brother's diaper.
Rev. Corey Brooks, the family's pastor, said the shooting has rattled the family.
He said kids were shooting off firecrackers and fireworks at the time, so when someone opened fire into a crowd gathered in the courtyard of the Parkway Gardens apartments, no one realized right away there had been a shooting.
"When I talked to the mother, one of the things that she said that she just thought it was fireworks, so she didn't respond or react, because she just thought they were shooting fireworks until she noticed that her son had been shot," Brooks said.
Kavan's mother said she heard firecrackers, followed by gunshots.
"I saw my baby crying, and when I looked down, he had blood coming out of his mouth, and blood just blood all over him," D'Antignay Brashear said. "I just wish I would have just stayed in the park, or I just wish I could have stayed in the house a couple more minutes, or something. I wish I could have did anything to prevent it. I wish it was even me, because he was right on the side of me."
A bullet grazed Kavan's face. He was taken to Comer Children's Hospital, where he was listed in serious but stable condition. His mother has been at his side ever since.
"Last night, and early this morning he seems to be moving in the right direction, and he's going to recover. However, we're going to have to deal with the mental scars and the emotional scars even after he heals," Brooks said.
Brashear made an emotional plea outside the hospital Wednesday afternoon.
"When y'all going to stop? This stuff hitting home. What if my son wouldn't have made it? Then what?" she said. "When this going to stop? When this going to stop? Until it happen to one of y'all? Till y'all in my shoes? That's when it's going to stop? When? That's all I want to know."
A 28-year-old woman not related to Kavan also was grazed in the head. She was in bed when a stray bullet went through a window and struck her. She was in good condition at Stroger Hospital on Wednesday.
"There was a person who came inside of Parkway Gardens, and started shooting, and hopefully that individual that did that shooting will turn himself in," he said.
Brooks said it wasn't the first shooting at the large apartment complex. He recalled a number of shootings there in the past few years, and said he hopes surveillance cameras at the apartment complex will lead police to the shooter.
"If you shoot someone in Woodlawn, we're going to do everything we can to come after you," Brooks said.
Brooks said two gangs who recently declared a truce in Woodlawn have pinpointed a person of interest in the shooting, and are helping police find the gunman.
"The police have all the information, and I'm sure they're going to use it," Brooks said. "I think in this case, we're going to see the individual apprehended that needs to be apprehended, and he will not be part of the individuals that were in the gang truce."
The pastor and Project Hood were offering a $10,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.