Crime & Safety

Chicago Shooting That Killed 2-Year-Old Captured On Facebook Live

A pregnant woman was injured, and a 26-year-old man was also killed in the shooting.

Updated at 6:36 p.m. Feb. 14: CHICAGO, IL — A pregnant woman who was wounded in a shooting that claimed the life of a toddler and a 26-year-old man recorded the violence in a Facebook Live video. Police identified the toddler as 2-year-old Lavontay White.

The shooting happened before 2 p.m. Tuesday in an alley in the 2300 block of South Kenneth Avenue on the city's West Side. Shots rang out as the 20-year-old woman filmed herself in the car with her nephew and her 26-year-old boyfriend, according to DNAinfo. Others shared the video on Facebook (WARNING: Disturbing content) following the fatal shooting. In the video, the woman and her boyfriend can be seen singing along to to music with the 2-year-old in the backseat. The sound of gunshots can be heard before the injured woman screams for someone to call 911 as she flees from the car and into a house.

ALSO READ: Congressman Calls for 'Coward' Who Killed 11-Year-Old Takiya Holmes To Turn Self In

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The trio were sitting in the car when a second vehicle with three people inside drove by, police told WGN. A gunman reportedly got out of the second vehicle and fired more than a dozen times, hitting all three.



Police said the toddler was struck in the head and was briefly revived before dying of his injuries. The man, described by cops as a documented gang member, also died of a gunshot wound to the head, police told DNAinfo. The woman and her unborn baby survived.

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The shooting wasn't the city's first to be captured on Facebook Live. In June, a man livestreamed as he was fatally shot on the West Side. And in Minnesota, the live Facebook video of Philando Castile's death during a police-involved shooting shocked viewers.

Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson held a press conference Tuesday afternoon near the site of the shooting.

"This has just got to stop," Johnson said. "Our children should not have to keep paying the price for our inability to hold repeat gun offenders accountable for their actions," he added, saying he feels "in (his) gut" that the suspect is a repeat offender.

Johnson was confident that police will find the shooter, adding he believes the incident was targeted.

"We have very promising leads, we have video," Johnson said. "There is no doubt in my mind that we will find him."

Johnson said state lawmakers promised to draft some kind of gun legislation by January.

"Now here we are in February," he said. "It's just ridiculous that we have to keep seeing children pay the price because we can't hold these individuals accountable. I'm sick of it. I know Chicago is sick of it. I just hope our legislative partners are sick of it."

WATCH Superintendent Eddie Johnson's comments on Tuesday's shooting:

Original story: A toddler, believed to be between 2 and 3 years old, was one of two people killed in a broad-daylight shooting Tuesday in Chicago.

Along with the young boy, a man in his 20s also died in the shooting, and a woman was in critical condition after being shot in the stomach, according to the Chicago Tribune.

The shooting occurred shortly before 2 p.m. in the 2300 block of South Kenneth Avenue near Ogden and Kostner avenues, according to NBC Chicago.

Chicago Police Spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said police have "very good leads" in the investigation and are reviewing surveillance video from the area of the shooting.

The murders came just hours after 11-year-old Takiya Holmes died. Holmes, hit by a stray bullet while sitting in a parked car with her mom and brother on Saturday night, died Tuesday morning.

A 12-year-old girl was also badly hurt in another shooting on Chicago's South Side on Saturday night, according to NBC.


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