3-year-old fatally shot while riding in car with father in Austin: police

Chicago police use tape to block off an SUV outside West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park that a 3-year-old boy was riding in when he was fatally shot Saturday in Austin. | Sam Kelly/Sun-Times

A 3-year-old boy was shot dead when someone opened fire at his father while they were driving Saturday evening in Austin.

The toddler was struck in the back about 6:25 p.m. when someone in a blue Honda pulled behind the black SUV the boy’s 27-year-old father was driving in the 600 block of North Central Avenue and fired several rounds, according to Chicago Police Chief of Operations Fred Waller.

A police source said the father was believed to be the intended target of the shooting.

The father drove the boy to West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park, Waller said, but he was pronounced dead shortly after arriving.

Community activist Andrew Holmes said he was offering a $2,000 reward for information that led to the arrest and conviction of the shooter, who he called “a straight coward.”

“Let’s go to work, let’s find the shooter, let’s get him in tonight,” Holmes said outside the hospital.

The family was grieving and frustrated — emotions Holmes said he understood after losing members of his own family, including his daughter, to gun violence.

Chicago police SUVs wait Saturday outside West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park where a 3-year-old boy was taken after being shot while riding in a car with his father in Austin. The boy later died, police said.

Police said the father also suffered a graze wound to his abdomen in the shooting.

No one was immediately taken into custody.

Area Four detectives are investigating.