Chicago Shooting: Facebook Live Shows Toddler Killed During Drive-By In Gang-Ridden West Side

A two-year-old boy was shot in the head in a drive-by shooting in Chicago’s gang-ridden West Side along with a 26-year-old man who was the target of the crime. The two were later pronounced dead Tuesday at nearby hospitals, ABC News reported.

Lavontay White, the toddler in the incident, was riding in the backseat with his pregnant aunt in the passenger seat while her boyfriend, who is a documented gang member with a lengthy criminal history, drove through an alley in the North Lawndale neighborhood. A gunman approached the vehicle with two other men and opened fire. The boyfriend's identity was not revealed pending family notification.

The woman survived a gunshot wound to her lower abdomen and her unborn baby was unharmed. She recorded the incident as it unfolded on Facebook Live, unaware that they would be ambushed on their drive as the couple sang along to a Chief Keef song. About three minutes into the video, a series of gunshots were heard as the woman fled from the car to a home of someone she called “Momma,” just a few feet away. After she entered the home, the video went black but the audio was left on for another 20 minutes. The video captured the sporadic emotional aftermath where the woman was heard pleading with the owner of the home and said she did not want to go to the hospital because she could be arrested. The video was later removed from Facebook.

The shooting came just a few days after two pre-teen girls aged 11 and 12 were both shot in the head over the weekend in Chicago. The shootings were not connected, but occurred 25 minutes apart of each other. The 11-year old’s grandmother, Patsy Holmes, told ABC News she was still “fighting for her life.”

But "at 8:17 this morning Takiya passed away in her mother’s arms," the fifth grader’s cousin Rachel Rae Williams posted on Facebook. The 12 year old’s condition was unknown.

“This has got to stop somewhere. Our children should not have to pay the price for our inability to hold repeat gun offenders responsible for their actions,” Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson said in a press conference.

Johnson said officials would find the shooter because his department had “promising leads.”

Gang violence in Chicago has gained national attention, with 762 homicides recorded last year--almost 300 more than 2015--and over 3,500 shooting incidents. Last month ended with 51 homicides, with 28 on the first day--the highest since January’s 1999 record of 55, according to the Chicago Police Department. According to The Chicago Tribune’s violence tracker, there have been 410 shooting victims for 2017 so far.

“Our consciences are shaken and our hearts are broken,” Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel said in a statement Tuesday evening. “These shootings must be a turning point for our city. Anyone with information about these crimes owes it to the families of these children to come forward."