after being shot in gang gunfire Monday,8-year-old Josue Torres Jr.had a gut-wrenching plea for Stroger Hospital surgeon Dr. John Houston. "He said, 'I don't want to die. I don't want to die. I'm going to miss my family if I die'," Josue's mother, Jessica Perez, recounted Tuesday from her child's bedside. "The doctor told him, 'You're not going to die. Everything is going to be all right. We're going to take care of you'
Witnesses on Tuesday said Josue was sitting in the back of his parents' van with four siblings -- his 30-year-old mother in the front -- when the 10 p.m. shooting occurred, near Humboldt Park.
Josue's father was standing outside the van talking to another man when a black car with tinted windows drove by. Shots were fired -- striking only Josue Jr. -- then the car fled, police said.
"We need to get these guns off the street," she said. "Innocent bystanders are getting shot over garbage going on in the streets, and these kids want to live."
But at the same time the family was expressing anger and grief over gunshots aimed toward a van full of children -- and gratitude for the outcome -- Chicago Police in no uncertain terms Tuesday were pointing the blame at his parents.
Police described as gang-related the shooting at 1150 N. Spaulding Ave., and said they were investigating whether the boy's father was the intended target.
"I hate to say it, but the parents are to blame for that 8-year-old being shot. They choose to engage in this activity. Now we have an innocent 8-year-old who is shot," Police Supt. Jody Weis said Tuesday at an unrelated news conference, in some of his harshest words yet about the wave of child shootings.
SOURCE CHICAGO TRIBUNE
CPD Superintendent
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