On Sunday evening, when a pair of gunmen fired at least a dozen shots at a van packed with women and children at Chicago's Murray Park, Leslie Freeman, 27, and her 2-year-old son, Demonte, were both struck and now remain in the hospitalized, reports the Huffington Post.
It's not the first time this family has fallen victim to the city's gun-violence epidemic: Freeman's other son, Deon, was shot and killed by a known gang member as he stood outside a convenience store just last year.
During an interview with WGN, witness Pamela Burrell said of the shooters, "I think they should take them to Afghanistan somewhere and let them shoot at anybody they want to shoot at because they're just a bunch of cowards."
John Edwards, Freeman's uncle, wondered whether the shooting may have part of a gang initiation.
"Who else would shoot at a bunch of women and children?"
A $1,000 reward is being offered by the community for information related to the shooting. Anyone with information is being urged to call 1-800-883-5587.
Freeman and her son represented just two of the 24 gun-related injuries reported in Chicago this weekend. There were two homicides in the city, but police say that murders through the end of June this year have actually dropped 29 percent compared with the same period last year.
Read more at the Huffington Post.