Baby shot in head discharged from hospital, family moving out of city: 'Chicago is the worst'
CHICAGO - A baby shot in the head earlier this month has been discharged after 15 days in the hospital.
The one-month-old was one of seven people wounded in a mass shooting in Englewood on July 1. Now, her family has had enough and they are moving out of Chicago.
Terriana Smith is the youngest gun violence victim this year and in recent memory. She is one of 212 kids, under the age of 17, shot this year alone.
"I'm getting out of here, today. I have to leave Chicago," said Terriana’s mother Tyeshia Banks. "I love this city, but I can’t stay anymore."
The baby girl was strapped in her car seat in the back seat of her mom’s car. They were parked at 66th and Halsted when police say three men jumped out of a black Jeep and started firing in all directions. It happened around 8 p.m. Police say six adults were struck. Terriana, at just four-weeks-old, was shot in the head.
Banks says a police officer whisked them away to a nearby hospital, but they ended up at Comer Children’s Hospital where her baby girl underwent emergency surgery. Terriana never stopped breathing and the bullet, which is still lodged in her head, did not puncture her brain.
"I didn’t ever think my baby was going to die, because she was just looking at me like ‘Mama what happened?’" said Banks. "I love these doctors and thank you so much. I want to thank you all so much for saving my baby."
This is not the family’s first bout with gun violence. Banks was shot seven years ago, just six blocks from where her daughter was wounded.
"I was sitting in my car, and someone came past shooting, and I got shot," said Banks, who is now not willing to take any more chances and they are moving. "It happens everywhere, but Chicago is the worst. It's the worst."
Chicago police say no one is in custody, but they continue to investigate. If you know the men in that surveillance video, call police.