Police said the 1-year-old girl was inside a Chicago Lawn residence when gunfire erupted shortly after midnight Saturday.
CHICAGO, Ill. — A 1-year-old girl was critically injured after being struck by gunfire inside a Southwest Side apartment early Saturday, prompting an investigation that led police to recover a firearm and arrest a 38-year-old man within minutes.
Chicago police responded shortly after midnight to the 6400 block of South Mozart Street in the Chicago Lawn area. Officers found the child wounded inside the residence, and she was taken to the University of Chicago’s Comer Children’s Hospital in critical condition. Authorities had not announced an improvement in her condition by Monday morning.
Police sources said the girl was sitting in a car seat in the living room when a person inside the apartment fired a gun. The child was struck in the back of the head, according to those accounts. Authorities have not said that she was intentionally targeted, and they have released few details about what happened immediately before the gunfire.
Officers arrested Davaris Washington, 38, about 12:15 a.m., shortly after the shooting was reported. Police also recovered a firearm from the building. Washington, who police identified as a resident of Chicago’s Chatham neighborhood, was later charged with four felonies in connection with the shooting.
The charges are reckless discharge of a firearm, unlawful use of an automatic weapon, reckless conduct and possession of a firearm as a repeat felony offender, police said. Washington was due in court Monday. The allegations against him have not been proven in court.
The case developed over the weekend as investigators worked to determine what happened inside the residence. Initial reporting based on a police source said two people had been taken into custody, including a woman accused of trying to conceal the firearm. Police said Monday morning that Washington was the only person arrested, and no additional charges had been announced.
Authorities also have not publicly explained Washington’s relationship, if any, to the child. That question was among several details that remained unresolved as detectives investigated the circumstances surrounding the shooting. Police have not publicly announced a motive or provided a full account of why the firearm was discharged inside the apartment.
The shooting occurred during a weekend in which the 1-year-old was the youngest person reported wounded by gunfire in Chicago. Her age and critical injuries placed particular attention on the South Mozart Street investigation as detectives gathered evidence and prosecutors prepared the criminal case stemming from the shooting.
The girl remained hospitalized in critical condition in the latest available reports. Washington’s court appearance Monday marked the next step in the criminal case, while the investigation into the circumstances of the shooting remained ongoing.
Author note: Last updated September 28, 2026.