3-year-old killed in road rage shooting

CHICAGO — Police are searching for the gunman who shot and killed a toddler in a weekend road rage incident.

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A woman driving a white SUV in Chicago on Friday night was involved in a road rage incident that led to shots being fired, WMAQ reported. Police told the station that a man riding in the back of a red sedan fired shots at the white SUV, hitting a 3-year-old boy in the head.

The family in the white car, a mother and her four children, had just left the mall before the road rage confrontation, WFLD reported.

Police did not offer specifics about how the incident began, but told WFLD that “the mother attempted to leave from the other vehicle, when the offender subsequently followed her. Several shots were fired.”

One of those bullets struck 3-year-old Mateo Zastro, who was killed.

“There was no tint on that window. You saw those children inside of that car, and you still discharged that weapon,” community activist Andrew Holmes, who spent time with the victim’s family Saturday, told WLS.

Roger Ramirez, who lives nearby where the shooting happened, told the Chicago Sun-Times that he was closing the curtains in his living room when he heard gunfire and ducked for cover. One bullet struck a window frame at his home.

“We will not rest until those responsible for this senseless and cowardly act of violence are brought to justice,” 8th District Chicago Police Department Commander Bryan Spreyne told WLS. “Our vow to the child’s family and to the entire city is we will not rest until those responsible for this senseless and cowardly act of violence, are brought to justice. … To those responsible for taking this precious child’s life: do the right thing, the honorable thing, and turn yourselves in.”

Mateo’s mother and three siblings were not hurt, WFLD reported.

In a news conference Saturday, Holmes announced a $7,000 reward was being offered for information leading to an arrest and conviction in the case, WLS reported.

“Money alone cannot bring this child back,” Holmes said. “But, if so be it, we have to put a bounty on someone’s head to get this information, to get them convicted for taking this child’s life … this is the second child inside of a vehicle shot in the head and we have baby killers out on the streets.”

The other child referenced by Holmes, a 5-month-old girl, was in a car with her father in June when someone in a vehicle opened fire, hitting her in the head and killing her, the Sun-Times reported at the time.

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