A Chicago mother whose 7-month-old son was grazed by a bullet this week has a message for the shooter: “Turn yourself in” or stop the violence.
The attack happened in the city’s Lawndale neighborhood late Wednesday night as Shauntaevia Osbey was driving home with her son, Rhylee, asleep in his car seat, according to Fox32 Chicago. Police tell the station that an SUV pulled up alongside their vehicle and someone inside started opening fire at a group of men standing on a street corner, with one of the bullets grazing the infant in the foot.
“He was crying. I’m thinking the gunshots just scared him so once I grabbed him, I looked at my hands and I just started panicking because I didn’t know where the blood was coming from,” Osbey told Fox32 Chicago.
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“Seeing these babies get shot and killed, I’m thinking as a parent I can’t imagine what they were going through and then to actually go through it… I felt like my heart was out of my chest,” she added.
Responding police officers rushed the infant to a hospital, where he received medical treatment for his wounds.
The Chicago Police Department is now investigating the incident and Osbey has a message for those involved.
“If you ain’t going to turn yourself in then just stop, just stop because it’s not ending well,” she told Fox32 Chicago.
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The shooting happened this week as Chicago is grappling with persistent gun violence.
This past Independence Day weekend marked another bloody one for the Windy City, with at least 67 people shot – 18 fatally, including four children.
The week prior, five children were caught in crossfire, in which three died. And over Memorial Day weekend, Chicago endured its bloodiest day in over six decades — 18 people were killed and 45 wounded in a 24-hour period.
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According to statistics issued by the Chicago Police Department last week, shootings and murders jumped 75 percent in June compared to the same time in 2019, with 425 shootings this year compared to 242 last June.
City officials, including Mayor Lori Lightfoot, have pointed toward the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and subsequent lockdowns and shuttering of the economy as a contributing factor in the recent uptick.
Fox News’ Hollie McKay contributed to this report.