A toddler was critically wounded by gunfire Tuesday as she was being driven by her mother in south suburban Chicago Heights.
Officers responded to calls of shots fired about 6:05 a.m. in the 1600 block of School Street, and learned that a 3-year-old girl was being driven by her mother to Franciscan Health Olympia Fields hospital, Chicago Heights Police Chief Thomas Rogers said in a statement.
At the hospital, officers found the girl with a gunshot wound to the side of her head, Rogers said. She was airlifted to the University of Chicago Medical Center in critical condition.
The child’s mother told investigators she was driving on School Street when she heard what sounded like a tire pop, and then heard the girl crying in the rear passenger seat, Rogers said. She saw blood coming from her child’s head.
Officers found a crime scene in the 1600 block of Aberdeen Street, Rogers said. The Washington-McKinley Elementary School is located in the same block.
It was unclear who was the target of the shooting. Rogers could not immediately be reached for comment.
Chicago Heights police and Illinois State Police were investigating at the scene, Rogers said. The South Suburban Major Crimes Taskforce is also investigating.
