Thornton police are investigating the fatal shooting of a 4-year-old boy inside his home Thursday night.
Officers responded to the Blackhawk Drive home at 8:41 p.m. and found the boy with a gunshot wound to the head, police said. He was taken to Ingalls Memorial Hospital in Harvey, where he was pronounced dead about a half hour later.
Thornton Sgt. Paul Moran said police were still trying to determine whether someone shot the child, either accidentally or intentionally, or if the child accidentally shot himself.
The Cook County medical examiner’s office identified the child as Amir Jennings-Green and will perform an autopsy to determine his manner of death.
Chief Glenn Beckman said there were between six and nine people inside the home when the incident occurred, many of whom were members of the same extended family.
The shooting occurred in a basement bedroom where multiple young children were playing, Beckman said. There were adults in the basement’s common room, the chief said, but none reported being in the bedroom when the gunshot rang out.
The home’s owner, Rosalind Brady, said Thursday that about seven people were inside the home when the shooting occurred, but that she wasn’t sure exactly what happened.
“I was upstairs,” said Brady, the victim’s grandmother. “I don’t know.”
Brady said Thursday that she and others who were present at the home were too distraught to speak about the incident.
“Everybody is shook up right now,” she said, her voice trembling.
Thornton police said officers had not previously responded to Brady’s home for any major incidents in the past.
The department is working with the Illinois State Police to investigate the boy’s shooting, but have no suspects at this point.
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Twitter @ZakKoeske
