4-Year-Old Girl Shot In Arm While Walking With Father In Englewood
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A 4-year-old girl was shot in the arm Tuesday afternoon while just walking near her home in Englewood.
CBS 2's Jermont Terry talked to those who were caught in the crossfire just steps away from the preschooler.
If there is any good news, it is that the 4-year-old will survive. But the fact remains someone shot the child twice in her arm as she walked with her father in her neighborhood.
The shooting happened at 4:27 p.m. in the 600 block of West 61st Street.
Hours later, a car remained parked in the middle of the street on 61st Street off Union Avenue. A bullet hole was visible near the taillight.
The owner of that car talked with Terry about what happened.
"They just came through shooting and they shot my car up," he said.
The man was sitting in his parked car before a vehicle full of people pulled up and opened fire on others on the block.
"The bullet came close to hitting my head," the man said. "It's lodged in the back of my side window."
The man avoided the bullets. But the same could not be said for that 4-year-old girl, who was just walking down the street with her dad.
"I just literally spoke to them," the man said. "We were out here talking, then they walked past - and the next thing you know, a shooting just started going off."
Two bullets pierced the child in the arm. The family did not wait for an ambulance – they rushed the 4-year-old to nearby St. Bernard Hospital before getting transferred to Stroger Hospital of Cook County.
"She was on the sidewalk, but they ducked her down behind the car," the man said.
It was the cries from the helpless child that the man – who did not want to be identified – now cannot erase from his mind.
"The screams, you know, that's what hurt me - the screams," he said. "That's a scream that I won't ever forget, because I have kids – I have a daughter - and I can understand what they're going through, you know seeing your baby girl get hit."
As police looked for evidence in what is being described as a drive-by shooting, so many in the Englewood community are fed up with innocent children and others getting caught in the crossfire.
"It has to stop," the man said.
The 4-year-old girl was last listed in good condition at Stroger Hospital of Cook County. Meanwhile, Chicago Police detectives are working the case, and note that there are many surveillance cameras in the area.
No one was in custody Tuesday night.
