A business owner offered a $10,000 reward for information about a Chicago shooting that left a 5-year-old boy in critical condition.
5-year-old Clareon Williams was sitting on the couch in his living room next to his father Clarence on Nov. 16 when the shooting occurred, the Chicago Tribune reported. They were playing a game on an iPad when a bullet came through the window and hit Clareon in the head.
A video released by police shows someone in dark clothes open fire out of the front passenger side of an SUV, which had circled the block several times before the shooting. (RELATED: Long Island Bar Investigated For Betting On Whether New York Or Chicago Would Have More Labor Day Shootings)
A Chicago shooting in the Roseland neighborhood has left 5-year-old Clareon Williams in a medically induced coma and in critical condition. Chicago police have not yet made any arrests. https://t.co/FyguY6jfeO
— ABC 7 Chicago (@ABC7Chicago) November 26, 2020
Police believe that the shooter was targeting a neighboring apartment, the Tribune reported.
The child was “still in extremely critical condition” Wednesday, Chief of Detectives Brendan Deenihan said during a news conference, according to the Tribune. Clareon spent Thanksgiving at Comer Children’s Hospital. Williams said that he can’t talk but communicates by squeezing his father’s hand to show that “he hears us.” He also is able to breathe on his own and occasionally moves around and tries to remove the bandages from his head.
“It’s not going to be a speedy recovery,” Williams told the newspaper. “He’s going to pull through this.”
“They want him to rest,” he added. “They want his brain to rest. Once the swelling goes down, there’s a little hope.”
Williams said that Clareon was “doing better” and that “he’s hanging on.”
Detectives “really need the community’s help to solve this case,” Deenihan said according to the report. “The video is out there, but we are asking for the public’s help.” (RELATED: Shootings In Chicago Increase Despite Stay-At-Home Orders)
Early Walker, a business owner and member of the group I’m Telling, Don’t Shoot, announced the $10,000 reward and said that anyone with information should contact authorities.
“There’s someone who knows who that shooter is,” Walker said according to the Tribune. “Here it is, on the brink of Thanksgiving … there’s one less family member at the table this year.”
“He’s 5 years old,” he continued. “That makes no sense.”
“If you are the shooter and you’re watching this, do the right thing and turn yourself in,” Walker said.