Man faces charge after toddler shot in head during Chicago road rage incident

A man has been charged with unlawful use of a firearm by a felon in connection with a shooting that critically wounded a 21-month-old boy who was riding in a car with him on Chicago’s famed Lake Shore Drive, police said Thursday.

Jushawn Brown, 43, of Chicago, fired shots at another vehicle “during a road rage incident” about 11 a.m. Tuesday and was arrested later that day, police said. Police have said shots were fired at the car Brown was in, which crashed after the boy was shot in the temple.

It wasn’t immediately known whether Brown had a lawyer who could comment.

Read More: Toddler in ‘grave condition’ shot in head during Chicago road rage incident

This April 2021 booking photo released by the Chicago Police Department shows Jushawn Brown. (Chicago Police Department via AP)

No other arrests have been reported. Chicago police spokeswoman Karie James said Thursday that police were still searching for the driver of the second vehicle, but she had no other information to release on that person.

The wounded boy was in critical condition Wednesday at Lurie Children’s Hospital, where he was on a ventilator and in a medically induced coma to protect his brain, said Dr. Marcelo Malakooti, the hospital’s associate chief medical officer and medical director of its pediatric ICU.

Malakooti said the boy has a severe brain injury and he remained “incredibly ill.”

“The fact that he hasn’t worsened, I would say, provides us with a cautious hope,” he said at a Wednesday afternoon news conference.

A message was left Thursday morning with the hospital seeking an update on the boy’s condition.

A Chicago police officer stands on the scene of a shooting where a 2-year-old boy was shot in the head while he was traveling inside a car near Grant Park, Tuesday, April 6, 2021. (Jose M. Osorio/Chicago Tribune via AP)

Read More: Chicago shootings at highest level in 4 years, police say

Tuesday’s shooting happened just hours after seven people were shot and wounded Monday night in a fight a few miles away, in what is shaping up to be one of the most violent years for Chicago in memory.

The shooting Tuesday was near Grant Park on the city’s South Side. Police have said one driver would not let the other enter a lane of traffic. Police recovered bullet casings over about a two-block stretch of the roadway.

A woman jumped out of the car with the child and someone drove them to Northwestern Memorial Hospital before the boy was transferred to Lurie Children’s Hospital.

Brown was scheduled to appear Thursday in bond court.

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