7-year-old shot Sunday morning in Roseland as family was headed to church, police say – Chicago Tribune

A 7-year-old boy was shot Sunday morning in the Roseland neighborhood while in a vehicle with his family who was heading to a church service, police said.

At approximately 11:21 a.m. in the 10800 block of South State Street, a male offender began firing shots in the direction of the vehicle the boy was in, according Chicago police Deputy Chief Larry Snelling.

Five occupants were in the vehicle including the 7-year-old, Snelling said at a news conference. One of the rounds struck the boy and another struck the car. The shooter fled the scene.

The child was taken to Roseland Community Hospital and then transferred to Comer Children’s Hospital, where his condition was stabilized.

“My son is having nightmares in this hospital,” said the boy’s mother, Keshawana Barr. “My other kids are severely traumatized and upset; this was a lot for my family to take on.”

The shooter was positively identified by some of the occupants who were in the vehicle, police said.

“I want to commend our 5th district officers for their quick response,” Snelling said. “They gave chase, and they were able to take that subject into custody.”

Area Two detectives are investigating and questioning the person of interest.

Snelling said one of the vehicle occupants confronted a person who was going inside a nearby parked vehicle that belonged to the occupant.

“It’s hard to stand here and say he was lucky but this could have been worse,” Snelling said. “I do understand that it’s really hard to walk out and see someone breaking in or damaging something that you paid your hard earned dollars for, but it’s not worth it to confront that individual because life is on the line.”

Barr said events unfolded differently.

“We never confronted that man,” Barr said. “We were driving and trying to park (and) I feel like the man was nervous because we saw what he was doing.”

tatturner@chicagotribune.com