BRONZEVILLE — Officers John Conneely and Michael Modzelewski had barely any time to survey the scene of five people shot in the Back of the Yards Monday night before they had to make a dramatic decision: stay at the crime scene or take a wounded 11-month-old to the hospital.
The officers were the first ones to the shooting scene at 5300 block of South Aberdeen Street Monday night when they saw a woman running to them with a screaming baby, police said Tuesday.
The 11-month-old boy had been shot in his torso. The officers took the baby, confirmed its injuries and made the "split-second decision" to bring the boy to the hospital, a move Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said might have saved the baby's life.
"It's against protocol to remove a victim from a scene unless it is dire," McCarthy said at a news conference Tuesday. "They likely saved a life."
Officers Modzelewski and Conneely first responded to the scene, and with no ambulances there, the partners knew they had to act quick, Conneely said.
"With no ambulances on the scene, we made the decision to get [the baby] to the hospital," he said.
Officer Modzelewski said the child was bloody and screaming when he took him from the boy's relative. He said he checked the severity of the injury and told his partner, who had the keys to the squad car, to get behind the wheel.
"It was chaotic," Modzelewski said of the scene, where five were shot, two fatally, Monday night in the Back of the Yards. "I got in the back seat, held pressure to the wound. He was screaming."
Officer Conneely, behind the wheel, then alerted Stroger Hospital that they were headed there with an injured baby boy. He also alerted police to their action; police began closing off streets for the speeding squad.
The 11-month-old was listed as "stable" at Stroger Hospital. The boy's pregnant mother and grandmother, however, perished from their wounds. Two others were shot in the incident.
Police are interviewing leads in the shooting but no arrests have been made, McCarthy said.
The officers described the chaotic event and their decision making at a news conference Tuesday to address the recent spike in gun violence. Modzelewski said the incident was "surreal," especially with him being a father himself.
"It hit home," he said. "It's a tragic event."
Conneely said he and his partner had barely any time to process the event and their split-second decision making. But he said the two officers will likely visit the child Tuesday night.
"It's indescribable," Conneely said of their actions Monday. "Big sense of relief knowing we had a positive outcome."
The officers spoke at a news conference at police headquarters Tuesday, where McCarthy decried the prevalence of guns and the lack of laws that held criminals accountable.
"Families are literally getting torn apart because it's too easy to get a gun in the city of Chicago," McCarthy said. "It will happen time and time again until these criminals are held accountable."
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