April 11--A West Side teen fired into a car that had a 7-month-old child in the back seat, wounding a 33-year-old man Friday in the Cragin neighborhood, prosecutors said.
Domingo Rodriguez, 16, appeared before Cook County Judge Laura Marie Sullivan after being charged as an adult with aggravated battery with a firearm. Rodriguez was held in lieu of $250,000 bail.
The shooting occurred at 11:39 p.m. Friday at a Citgo gas station at 2611 N. Central Ave.
The 33-year-old Elgin man was with three female relatives when a juvenile driver pulled up to a gas pump; Rodriguez and two females were passengers, according to Assistant Cook County State's Attorney Katherine Schoon. The driver got out and banged on the hood of the Elgin man's car and flashed gang signs.
One of the female relatives told the unidentified driver to stop because the man was "not a part of that life," Schoon said. The man got out of his vehicle and the driver squared up in a fighting stance. Rodriguez got out of the vehicle holding his waistband and jacket and said that they should "pop this guy."
The man, fearing for his life, went to the back of his car and opened the trunk, prosecutors said. The younger driver then grabbed the man and began to wrestle with him. Rodriguez pulled out a black semi-automatic firearm and fired twice into the open trunk at the victim and toward the backseat of the car, where the 7-month-old child was sitting.
The man was hit in the side of his waist, with the bullet exiting his right buttocks. He was taken to Illinois Masonic Medical Center and now requires the help of a cane to walk, according to court documents.
Police pulled over the vehicle that Rodriguez and the juvenile were in minutes later and arrested them. Rodriguez was identified by a witness.
The incident was captured on surveillance video and Rodriguez admitted to at least part of the attack.
Rodriguez, of the 1600 block of South Throop Street, is scheduled to appear in court again Monday.
