Police on Thursday released a person of interest after a baby was shot in the head in the parking lot of a Washington Park neighborhood McDonald’s.
The person of interest, who was being questioned, was no longer talking to police and was not charged with anything, according to Kellie Bartoli, a police spokesperson.
The shooting happened Tuesday just before 11 p.m. when the mother of the 9-month-old girl went into a McDonald’s at 70 E. Garfield Blvd. and left the child in the car with her boyfriend, according to police.
When she came out and got into the driver’s seat, she peered into her rear-view mirror and spotted blood coming from the baby’s nose but “thought nothing of it,” as the baby had been fighting a cold, a police report said.
The woman then got out of her car, opened the back door and saw the baby was bleeding “profusely,” so she jumped behind the wheel and drove to Comer Children’s Hospital, according to the report.
After the baby was admitted to intensive care, the hospital went into “lockdown,” the report said. It was not clear why the lockdown was put into effect.
The child was listed in critical condition with gunshot wounds below her right ear and above her left eyebrow.
No other injuries were reported, and police said the circumstances of the shooting remain under investigation by Area 1 detectives.
Contributing: Mohammad Samra
