5-month-old boy among 3 shot in Old Town; suspects in custody

Three people, including a 5-month-old boy, were shot Thursday in the Old Town neighborhood on the North Side.

The shooting happened about 7 p.m. in the 1300 block of North Hudson Avenue, First Deputy Supt. Eric Carter said during a brief news conference outside Lurie Children’s Hospital.

The infant was grazed in the temple and taken to Lurie, where he was stabilized and “resting comfortably,” Carter said. Two men, 19 and 25, were also shot; both are stabilized at Northwestern Memorial Hospital.

Carter said officers responded to the scene and quickly received descriptions of a shooter and a vehicle.

After broadcasting those descriptions, officers tracked the vehicle to the intersection of Princeton Avenue and 37th Street and took two people into custody without incident, Carter said, noting that investigators are looking into whether another person was inside the vehicle at the time of the shooting. Two weapons were recovered during the arrest.

Carter didn’t provide any possible motive for the attack, and it’s still unclear whether the victims are related.

Carter urged community members to come forward with information and asked prosecutors and activists to “get on board to help us turn the tide of what’s happening in our community.”

At the scene of the shooting, inside the area cordoned off by police tape, multiple shell casing markers could be seen spread across the ground near the entrance to the Marshall Field Garden Apartments.

Just outside the taped off area, a young woman sold chips and other snacks as others congregated by a nearby corner while officers investigated. As passersby stopped and talked, Shavon Harris live-streamed from the scene.

Harris, who was returning home from work, said she was deeply troubled by the series of recent shootings that have victimized children.

The violence is “typical” for the area, said Harris, who is now worried for the safety of her own 8-year-old son.

“It’s ridiculous. This violence is getting out of hand,” added Harris. “It’s senseless violence every day.”