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Violent Threats Target Family of Man Who Allegedly Hit Baby With Concrete

By  Mauricio Peña and Josh McGhee | May 15, 2015 7:45am | Updated on May 15, 2015 5:44pm

 Jeremy O'Neal, 25, of the 9500 block of South Houston Avenue, was charged with one count of aggravated battery to a child under 13 causing permanent damage disability, police said in a statement.
Jeremy O'Neal, 25, of the 9500 block of South Houston Avenue, was charged with one count of aggravated battery to a child under 13 causing permanent damage disability, police said in a statement.
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CPD News Affairs

CHICAGO — A South Deering man who allegedly threw a piece of concrete through a window in Englewood, striking a 7-month old baby in her head and causing permanent damage, was held on $150,000 bail after a bond hearing Friday.

At the bond hearing, the lawyer for Jeremy O'Neal, 25, said that his family had received vigilante threats on Facebook after the incident, with people suggesting "a baby for a baby."

O'Neal, of the 9500 block of South Houston Avenue, appeared in front of Cook County Judge Peggy Chiampas Friday afternoon after being arrested Thursday. He was charged with one count of aggravated battery to a child under 13 causing permanent disability.

Prosecutors said at 8:25 p.m. May 3 O'Neal banged loudly on the front door of a home in the 1400 block of West 73rd Place. When someone answered the door, he asked for Diana Black, and was told she wasn't at the home.

O'Neal became irate and threatened the people in the home, telling them "You all will pay" for her not being home, prosecutors said.

He then got into his car and drove around the block before returning to the home and throwing a chunk of concrete through a front window and hitting a 7-month-old girl in her head, prosecutors said.

O'Neal drove away in his car, and the 7-month old was taken to Comer's Children Hospital where she was treated for a serious head injury, police said.

The 7-month-old suffered a skull fracture and was released from the hospital a few days later. The age of the child made it difficult to determine long-term damages, prosecutors said.

O'Neal's attorney Nicholas Giordano said O'Neal's family has been threatened on Facebook since the incident, with people calling for vigilante justice, suggesting "a baby for a baby" and even posting the address of one of his relatives.

O'Neal's family refused to comment outside of the courtroom Friday. Giordano contended that O'Neal never intended to hurt anyone, especially not a 7-month-old child.

"We just hope the baby is OK, of course. No one ever had any intention to ever hurt a child," Giordano said.

O'Neal's next court date will be May 21.

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