No charges had been filed as of early Wednesday morning in the shooting of the 21-month-old boy, police said. A person of interest is still being questioned.
A 21-month-old boy remains in critical condition Wednesday morning after he was shot in the head in an apparent road-rage incident Tuesday on Lake Shore Drive near Grant Park.
The boy suffered a brain injury and was at Lurie Children’s Hospital, according to Dr. Marcelo Malakooti, medical director of the hospital’s pediatric intensive care unit. There was no change to his condition Wednesday morning, Chicago police said.
Lurie issued a statement confirming the boy’s condition, adding that the hospital’s pediatric intensive care unit team “is working around the clock on his care.”
Another update would be issued at 3:30 p.m., according to the hospital.
A dispute over one car not letting another car into a lane of traffic about 11 a.m. on northbound Lake Shore Drive just south of Soldier Field apparently led to the shooting, Chicago Police Cmdr. Jake Alderden said at a news conference Tuesday afternoon.
Both cars continued north and shooting began on Lake Shore Drive just west of the Shedd Aquarium. Bullet casings were recovered over a two-block stretch as the cars proceeded north, he said.
One person was being questioned by Area Three detectives in connection with the shooting Tuesday evening, police said. Charges were not filed Wednesday morning.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot on Tuesday had called the shooting a case of “simple, stupid road rage” and was incredulous that adults would open fire for that reason, and with a child so near.
“It’s mind boggling to me that people carry guns in the way that they do. That they use them in the way that they do. … It’s just a terrible tragedy,” she said.
Lightfoot said people in both cars in the incident were firing weapons.
Community activist Ja’Mal Green, father of a 2-year-old, is personally funding a $5,000 reward for information leading to the arrest of the gunman.
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Ashlee Rezin Garcia/Sun-Times
