On Thursday, a 1-year-old boy in Chicago was shot in the head as the Windy City approached the grim milestone of the 2021 homicide.
When Talisha Ashford and her three sons were driving in the Southern District of Chicago, a shooting occurred near her car.
A bullet penetrated the windshield of the SUV, passed Ashford, and bruised the head of her 1-year-old son Cor’Mari Allen.
“A bullet just passed me, my child is behind,” Ashford Tell ABC7 Chicago“It banged in my ears. I could feel it very close to me. I really thought I was hit.”
Allen’s 10-year-old brother Cordaryl Allen remembers that he noticed his little brother yelling “he was hit” when he was bleeding.
“At first I thought he was shot here because I just saw a lot of blood,” Kodalil recalled. “Blood a lot.”
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Surveillance video obtained from the scene showed that four men got out of the car and approached another man who had left the gas station at 75th and State Street. The four opened fire on the man, who returned fire after being hit.
The target man and one of the four were injured. As of Friday, their situation is unclear.
Chicago police have detained a person in connection with the case and are currently questioning them about the shooting. Their names have not yet been released to the public, but the department did say that the charges against them are under trial.
Weekly newspaper Contact Chicago police Ministry’s comment on this story.
Ashford explained that she was very shocked by the incident. Once it happened, she got out of the car to help her young son without even putting it in the park. At first, she was worried about her son’s injury, so she didn’t even dare to touch it.
“These are innocent children, and they deserve a chance,” Ashford said. “This is a 1-year-old kid. He doesn’t know anything.”
Allen will need surgery to remove bullet fragments from the head wound.
As of Friday, Chicago is on the cusp In 2021, there will be 700 homicide deaths throughout the year. With the killing of Chinese college student Zheng Shaoxiong on Tuesday, the number as of Friday was 698, surpassing the 680 homicides in the same period in 2020.
Same as most major cities In the United States, during the COVID-19 pandemic, the incidence of such violence in Chicago has soared. By the same period of 2019, there were 442 homicides in Second City.
