A 9-year-old boy remained in critical condition Thursday after he was shot in the chest while riding in a car with his mother on Chicago's South Side, officials said.
The boy was wounded in a shooting the prior evening in the 6700 block of South Evans Avenue, family said.
He was taken to University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital where he was immediately taken into surgery. Family members embraced outside, and there was word from one relative the boy's condition was improving by the 9 p.m. hour.
Detectives said they believe the boy's mother drove him to the hospital. Police looked for bullet holes in the family vehicle and found none.
The mother was driving with her boyfriend, an alleged gang member, in the front seat when the boyfriend was recognized by a man in the street, a police source familiar with the investigation told NBC Chicago.
The man shot at the car, aiming for the mother's boyfriend, but the bullet instead hit the 9-year-old boy, the source said.
There were five children in the car at the time of the shooting, according to the source.
Police taped off the vehicle outside of the hospital while they investigated Wednesday night but later let a relative drive away in the car.
Area Central detectives were investigating.