Woman, 13-year-old son were innocent bystanders when they were shot on Near West Side, family says
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A mother was killed, and her son was critically injured in a shooting as they sat in a car on the Near West Side this week – and family members said the victims were innocent bystanders when the shots were fired.
As CBS 2's Sara Machi reported Wednesday, Nicole Watson, 44, was picking up her 13-year-old son, Jacob, from his grandmother's apartment Tuesday evening. He had just walked out the door.
The next thing Jacob's family heard was gunfire – so they went out to check, only to find their loved ones hit in a hailstorm of gunfire meant for someone else.
A small memorial is set up outside the car where Nicole Watson was killed and her son was shot in the ear, at Van Buren Street near Oakley Boulevard.
Bullet holes were visible on the back bumper of the car, and the glass was broken on the windshield.
This sight is what Watson's family found after they heard shot after shot from inside their apartment nearby.
"All I heard was shooting," said Watson's brother, Craig, who did not want his last name used. "I'm thinking it was just echoing off the building, until the shooting got louder and louder and louder."
Dispatch reports said a woman was crying and screaming as she called in a person shot.
Police taped off the scene around the car - but also into the street, because they believe the barrage of bullets came from outside the gated Oakley Square Apartments complex.
The gunfire hit windows on the second and third floors of an apartment building and the back tire of another car - now replaced with a donut - and the Watson and her son as they were on their way home.
Watson was rushed to Stroger Hospital of Cook County, where she died. Jacob was taken to Rush University Medical Center, where he remained Wednesday.
"Just a loving, giving person," said Craig, "and they took that away for me."
Craig said he picked up his nephew from school Tuesday and brought him to Oakley Square. A tear rolled down his face as he thought about the young boy - still unconscious in the hospital.
"I took him to his flag football games," Craig said, "did everything for him - buy him things when he did good in school, rewarded him."
Nearby surveillance cameras didn't catch the gunfire.
Watson's family said late Wednesday they haven't had any updates from police. But her brother says they plan to move - taking his parents from an apartment they have known for decades.
"For my parents to see their firstborn and their first grandson out there laying on the ground; my sister hunched over in my mom's car - it's just heartbreaking," Craig said. "It's just heartbreaking."
Jacob is expected to survive – and even make a full recovery - but he does have a long road ahead of him.
Watson's family says they are hopeful they will get more answers about who is responsible for the shooting. But they know there's one big question coming.
Jacob is still unconscious, and they expect when he wakes up, he'll ask what happened.
