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Back Of The Yards Shooting That Injured Baby Likely Gang Related: Police

By Joe Ward | September 29, 2015 7:25pm
 A gang territory dispute could be the motive for the shooting that injured an 11-month-old, police said.
A gang territory dispute could be the motive for the shooting that injured an 11-month-old, police said.
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BRONZEVILLE — A dispute over "rival gang territory" could have been the motive for the shooting that killed a pregnant woman and a grandmother and wounded an 11-month-old in the Back of the Yards Monday, Police Supt. Garry McCarthy said Tuesday.

No arrests have yet been made, but McCarthy said at a news conference Tuesday that police are working through a few leads in the shooting that left two dead and three others injured Monday.

"We do have some good leads we're running down as we speak," McCarthy said.

Police responded to the scene of five shot in the 5300 block of South Aberdeen Street around 7:10 p.m. Monday, and found the 11-month-old boy plus four of his relatives with gunshot wounds.

Officers on the scene rushed the boy to the hospital, a move that goes against police protocol but likely saved the boy's life, McCarthy said.

The boy's 24-year-old, pregnant mother died from a gunshot wound to the torso, police said. The boy's grandmother, 48, died from a gunshot wound to the thigh.

A 25-year-old man and a 24-year-old man were also wounded in the shooting, police said.

McCarthy said Tuesday that police's best theory at the moment was that the shooting was over rival gang territory.

The family was getting out of their car after coming home from a family outing when a gunman opened fire from a passing car, police said.

Speaking from the scene Monday, police described the shooting victims as innocent. McCarthy said Tuesday that he was not ready to comment on if anyone in the family was the intended target.

"At this point we still believe they are innocent," McCarthy said. "We do have some promising leads."

McCarthy spoke about the case at a news conference Tuesday to address the spike in recent gun violence. The police superintendent said tragedies such as the one that befell this Back of the Yards family will continue to happen until there is adequate legal recourse to prosecute violent criminals.

"Families are literally being torn apart because it is too easy to get a gun in the city of Chicago," he said.

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