Police review footage of shooting that killed Chicago toddler and man
Police are examining dramatic video that captured a shooting that killed a toddler and a man who is believed to have been the intended target.
The video, streamed live on Facebook, was taken from inside a car driven by a young woman who was wounded in the shooting in Chicago. The man and two-year-old Lavontay White were also in the car.
The woman and man can be seen listening to rap music before more than a dozen shots ring out. Screaming is heard as the footage becomes jumbled but shows the woman exiting the car and running toward a house.
The video goes to black, but the audio continues and people can be heard yelling, "Oh my God," ''I can't breathe," and "Please, no, no".
Police suspect the 26-year-old man, identified by the Cook County Medical Examiner's office as Lazarec Collins, was the target of a gang hit.
He was Lavontay's uncle and a documented gang member with an extensive criminal history.
According to the Illinois Department of Corrections, Collins was convicted of burglary and armed robbery and was released on parole last June.
Police have confirmed the authenticity of the video and it is part of their investigation, spokesman Frank Giancamilli said. No arrests have been made.
He said the woman, who is pregnant, was shot in the stomach. Both she and the foetus were expected to survive.
Lavontay was one of three children shot dead in Chicago in recent days.
On Tuesday morning, an 11-year-old girl who was shot in the head over the weekend died.
Hours after Takiya Holmes died, a 19-year-old who was being sought by police turned himself in.
Antwan Jones was charged with first-degree murder, and at a hearing on Wednesday, a judge ordered Jones to be held without bond.
Chicago police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said Jones has an extensive juvenile arrest record.
He also has a record as an adult that includes an arrest on a charge of aggravated assault after allegedly attacking a teacher.
Jones spotted three people outside his home, decided they did not belong there and went inside and got a handgun, police said.
He came outside and started firing, striking Takiya but no-one else, said Brendan Deenihan, a commander of the detectives' unit handling the investigation.
Police found Jones by contacting people in a video of the shooting. No gun has been recovered.
The Cook County medical examiner's office said late on Wednesday that Kanari Gentry-Bowers, a 12-year-old girl also shot over the weekend, had died. She had been on life support since the shooting.
Also on Wednesday, Chicago police said five people were shot, three fatally, in a flat on the city's Southwest Side.
AP
