Police release photo of suspect's car in shooting of Chicago baby; reward now $23K
CHICAGO (Fox 32 News) - Chicago police Friday night released images of the car involved in the shooting of a one-year-old child in the Longwood Manor neighborhood.
Detectives spent the day looking at traffic camera footage and other surveillance video in the area of Thursday evening’s shooting at 99th and Throop. Community activists are hoping people who may be hesitant to talk will step forward and help the one-year-old baby.
"Somebody cared for you when you was little. Somebody cared for you when you was one. I'm putting a challenge out there to the community and the challenge is, to either give us a call or give the detectives a call and give up the information,” said Andrew Holmes, a community activist.
Community activists spent Friday visiting with family of the victim at Comer Children’s Hospital where the child, DeJoin Chase Irving, is on life support. He’d been in the back seat of a Kia with two other children when bullets left terrifying impressions in the passenger’s side door. Chicago police say it appears the shooting was targeted, but the victim’s relatives say they think it was a case of mistaken identity.
"That's what I want to say because we, she didn't have any enemies. So they had to mistake that vehicle for somebody else's vehicle,” said Melvin Freeman, the baby’s grandfather.
Chase’s grandmother was driving the Kia. His mother was in the front seat. Neither was hurt. Andrew Holmes held up a flier outside the hospital with information about a reward in the case, something he says is continuing to rise. It’s now up to $23,500 and could go higher, thanks to area pastors, community activists and musicians.
"Let's help this baby. Let's bring these perpetrators in. They shouldn't have slept last night. They shouldn't sleep tonight. They shouldn't even eat because this baby is up there fighting for his life, one-year-old,” said Holmes.
Community activists are manning a phone number for tips. It’s 1-800-U-TELL-US. You can also call Chicago police anonymously at 312--747-8271.