Deandre Binion Charged With Shooting 22-Month-Old Kayden Swann In Lake Shore Drive Road Rage Attack
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A 25-year-old man has been charged with attempted murder in the shooting of Kayden Swann, the 22-month-old boy who was shot in a road rage incident on Lake Shore Drive downtown earlier this month.
Police said Deandre Binion is charged with three counts of attempted murder and one count of aggravated battery. He is due to appear in bond court on Friday.
Binion was arrested Tuesday morning on the 500 block of West Taylor Street, on the Near West Side, after he was identified as the gunman who opened fire on another vehicle over the course of two blocks on northbound Lake Shore Drive near Roosevelt Road along Grant Park on April 6.
At the court hearing on Friday, prosecutors said Binion pulled up close to the bumper of the other car. The driver of the other car, Jushawn Brown leaned out of the driver's side window, told Binion to back off, adding "he had a child in the car."
Brown sped off and moved to the left lane. Binion's car then went into the lane next to Brown's car. Binion dangled the gun towards the victim's car from the passenger side lane. Brown picked up the handgun that he had below his feet and displayed it to the Binion before putting it in his lap. As the victim's car traveled northbound to get away from Binion, as he fired four to five shots from his vehicle, prosecutors said.
Kayden, who was a passenger in the car police said Binion was targeting, was shot in the face. The white sedan carrying the child ended up crashing on Lake Shore Drive near Monroe Drive.
Police said a 44-year-old woman and a 43-year-old man also were in the car with Kayden at the time, but no other injuries were reported.
The SUV got away. A Good Samaritan picked Kayden and his family up and took them to the hospital.
Jushawn Brown, who was driving the car Kayden was in, said he did everything he could to de-escalate the road rage incident and get away from the driver that brandished a weapon, then started firing at him.
Despite that, he was charged with felony weapons charges. He said he tried shouting that the lane was merging. And with that, the scariest minute of his life began. The driver of a Toyota sport-utility vehicle with Michigan plates brandished the weapon, shouted, chased, then began shooting.
The two cars were simultaneously merging into the same lane in a construction zone near Soldier Field. With his girlfriend's grandson in the backseat, he tried again to get away and end it.
Kayden was shot in the temple and was taken to Lurie Children's Hospital, where he was originally listed in critical condition. Earlier this week, doctors said he is out of intensive care, and now breathing on his own, though still getting some breathing support.
"After over two weeks of intensive care treatment, Kayden Swann, now 22 months old, has been extubated and is breathing on his own with support," said Doctor Marcelo Malakooti, Associate Chief Medical Officer and Medical Director, Pediatric Intensive Care Unit, Ann & Robert H Lurie Children's Hospital of Chicago.
"He has been transferred out of our pediatric intensive care unit. Kayden is moving spontaneously and continues to be very responsive to treatment, is alert and active. We are optimistic for his continued recovery," he added.