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Baby girl shot five times in Chicago
(AP) — Authorities said a six-month-old girl was fatally shot and her father injured, after a gunman opens fire on the pair while they were in their parked minivan.
The police are searching for the gunman and the driver of the getaway van.
Jonylah Watkins was shot five times during the Monday afternoon attack in the South Side neighborhood of Woodlawn.
The police said she died Tuesday morning at Comer Children's Hospital.
Her father, Jonathan Watkins, was in serious but stable condition, recovering at Northwestern Memorial Hospital from wounds to his side, buttocks and face, which was only grazed.
Witnesses said the attacker approached Jonathan Watkins around 1 p.m. while he was standing beside his minivan and changing his daughter's diaper. She was on the front seat. Her family said Jonylah was shot in the thigh, shoulder, lung, liver and bowels.
Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy told reporters at a news conference today that Jonathan Watkins belongs to a gang and has a long criminal history, and Monday's attack appears to have been gang-related.
"No child, certainly not an infant, should be a victim of gang violence," McCarthy said.
Authorities found surveillance video of the blue van in which they believe the attacker fled.
They believe a driver waited in the van during the shooting.
McCarthy said police flooded the neighborhood Monday night to prevent a reprisal over the infant girl's shooting.
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