6 Month Old Baby Dies (video)

A 6-month-old girl died this morning, a day after she and her father were shot several times outside a home in the South Side's Woodlawn neighborhood, officials said.

Jonylah Watkins had undergone hours of surgery at Comer Children's Hospital after she was shot early Monday afternoon. "This morning, the baby passed away," said the Rev. Corey Brooks, a spokesman for the family, "We have another tragedy in the city of Chicago."

The baby was pronounced dead at 6 a.m., according to the medical examiner's office. Hospital spokesman John Easton said one gunshot wound caused the fatal injuries.

The girl's father, Jonathan Watkins, 29, was shot in his left side and right buttock and sustained a graze wound to the face, police said. He was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in serious-to-critical condition, fire officials said.

Police said a gunman emerged from a gangway in the 6500 block of South Maryland Avenue shortly before 1 p.m. and opened fire. Watkins was shot as he stood by the minivan's open front passenger door changing his daughter's diaper as she lay on the seat, police said.

The gunman fled to a nearby parking lot and jumped into a blue conversion van, which sped north through an alley, police said. Police were scouring the area for surveillance footage.

Other family members said the girl's 20-year-old mother was at work at a McDonald's when the shooting happened. She had been shot in the leg last spring while pregnant with Jonylah, they said.

"She's very distraught, she's in a lot of pain," Brooks said this morning. "They just got married several weeks ago. This is a tough time.

"We're going to help find who did this," said Brooks, pastor of New Beginnings Church in Woodlawn, which is offering up to $5,000 for information leading police to the gunman. "We're going to take back our neighborhood, we're going to find who did this."

RELATED

Jonylah Watkins

Drive-by shooting on South Side
Video: 6-month-old shot, dies in hospital

Two shot on South Side

Chicago crime overnight report
See more stories »
MAPS
6500 South Maryland Avenue, Chicago, IL 60637, USA
Jonylah's aunt, Dominique Young, 21, said that she and other relatives happened to be walking along 67th Street when they heard about 10 "big gun shots." They started calling around to check on family members but couldn't reach Watkins.

Police were looking into a claim from a relative that someone had threatened, in a Facebook post, to shoot Jonathan Watkins, authorities said.

The baby's grandmother, Maryann Young, described the baby as a "fun-loving girl."

More than two dozen shootings occurred within a few blocks of Monday's shooting through 2012, city crime statistics show. But through February 2013, the area has seen far fewer shootings than during the same two-month period in 2012.

Down the street from the shooting site Monday, Sedell Brown, watched her grandchildren, 12 and 13, walk to her apartment from school. The two grandchildren live with Brown, 54, who doesn't let them play outdoors.

"It don't make sense how they kill people around here," she said.

Tribune reporter Liam Ford contributed.

jgorner@tribune.com

kgeiger@tribune.com

Posted in: videofeatures