Charges are pending against a man who allegedly shot a 7-year-old boy headed to church this weekend on the Far South Side, Chicago police officials announced Monday.
Legend Barr and his family were headed to church near 108th and State streets around 11:30 a.m. Sunday when they spotted someone “rummaging” through one of their parked cars, Chicago Police Department Deputy Chief Larry Snelling told reporters.
Someone tried to follow the suspect, but he turned and opened fire, Snelling said. A bullet pierced through the car they were riding in, striking Legend in his leg.
“It created a lot of damage to his leg,” Snelling said. “The 7-year-old is pretty resilient. He handled it like a champ. When you think about a 7-year-old being shot, I mean, what a terrible thing. But the 7-year-old is doing fine right now — as fine as he can do after an incident like that.”
Snelling said the alleged shooter was quickly arrested by officers who were flooding the area in response to other shootings that happened in the two previous days.
“Our officers were out there,” Snelling said. “They were immediately able to apprehend the subject and take him into custody.”
Legend’s mother, Keshawana Barr, said in a GoFundMe campaign — launched to cover moving expenses and medical bills — that the suspect had broken into her grandmother’s car and then “shot our car multiple times with a rifle.”
She didn’t immediately respond to an interview request from the Sun-Times.
Barr said the shooting left Legend with a shattered femur, and that his lengthy recovery will require her to take a leave from work.
“This happened at the worst time,” she wrote on the GoFundMe page, which has raised over $1,700 of its $5,000 goal. “We have to be out of our apartment by Oct. 15, and now I won’t have the income I need to move us and pay any of our bills until recovery is over in a few months.”
She added: “My whole family is traumatized and hurt from this senseless act of violence.”
Two days earlier, 3-year-old Mateo Zastro was shot in his head and killed during an apparent road rage incident Friday night in West Lawn. No one has been arrested.
“Our hope is that someone in the community comes forward and helps us connect the dots, so that we can bring someone to justice,” Chicago Police Supt. David Brown said Monday.
In addition to touting overall decreases in shootings and homicides, Brown pointed to “a significant decline in young people being victims of gun violence this year compared to previous years.”
At least 289 minors have been shot in Chicago this year, according to Chicago Sun-Times data. Forty-six of those who were killed were 17 or younger. There have been 35 gunshot victims 12 or younger, and eight of them died.
At least 346 minors had been shot by Oct. 3 last year, 39 of whom were 12 or younger.
