Boy, 9, Recovering After Being Shot In The Chest
Updated 06/06/13 - 4:10 p.m.
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A 9-year-old boy had stabilized in the hospital Thursday after being shot in the chest while riding in a car with his mother the night before.
It happened around 5:30 p.m. in the 6700 block of South Evans Avenue in the Park Manor neighborhood. Police sources said the boy's mother was driving down the street with her boyfriend, a known gang member, when a passerby shot at them.
Sources say the boyfriend, who has been arrested 38 times, was sitting in the front seat of the car and was the intended target of a gang-related shooting.
There were six children in the car at the time, and relatives say they know who's responsible for the shooting. One of the kids saw the gunman.
A bullet went through the back door of the car, striking the boy in the back, and exiting his chest.
Tykeece Hilliard, a third-grader at Fiske Elementary, was being treated at the University of Chicago's Comer Children's Hospital on Thursday, but his mother said he's expected to make a full recovery. He was upgraded from critical to stable and was talking, his family told CBS 2.
Tynisha Hilliard said her son was sitting in the back seat at the time of the shooting, and screamed out, "Mommy, I'm shot!"
"You almost took my child's life. My child is laying up in critical condition," she said.
"It's senseless. Another baby is shot, or getting hurt, and what's the purpose? I just want whoever shot my baby to come forward so justice can be served."
A police source said Hilliard's boyfriend fled the car immediately after the shooting, and Hilliard drove on to Comer Children's Hospital. Police put up crime tape to secure the car at the hospital.
Police have not said if they've been able to talk to the boyfriend.
No suspects were in custody as of Thursday afternoon.
