6-Year-Old Girl Shot In The Head While Playing Outside Undergoing Surgery
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A 6-year-old girl who was shot in the head while playing outside with friends Thursday is undergoing surgery.
Family members tell CBS2 's Susanna Song that Zariah Muhammad had an actual bullet lodged in her head. She is in fair condition as of Friday morning.
The 6-year-old was up talking with her family in her hospital room Thursday night, when she said she was in a lot of pain, a family member says. Earlier Friday, doctors began minor surgery on Zariah to remove bullet fragments from her head. She's being treated at at Comer's Children's Hospital in Hyde Park.
"This tragic situation is never in nobody's agenda," said Keith Strong, a relative of Zariah. "Today, I'm just here for moral support."
The incident occurred Thursday near 68th and Calumet. Witnesses say children were playing outside when a man began shooting and fled in a car. The young girl told family members that she remembers a man approaching her uncle, asking a question, then he began shooting.
Zariah was pierced in the head, while her 22-year-old uncle David McCray, a documented gang member, was shot in the chest and later died, according to Chicago Police News Affairs. He was likely the intended target, police say.
"I saw the kid laid out on the grass and the police pulled up and everything and I see the guy. He was kind of slowly breathing like he wasn't going to make it," said neighborhood resident Brian Crawford.
"Chicago isn't a place for kids, that's for sure. If you don't have to raise them here, then get them out," Tinisha Strong, another relative of Zariah added.
Zariah is the 14th child in Chicago under the age of 11 shot since June this year.
No one is in custody.
