Cops may interview 2-year-old in Glenwood shooting
BY SUSAN DEMAR LAFFERTY slafferty@southtownstar.com August 29, 2012 8:14PM
Updated: October 1, 2012 5:17PM
Five men involved in a shooting Monday morning in Glenwood are not cooperating with police, so police were hoping Wednesday that they will be able to interview a 2-year-old boy who was at the scene, Glenwood Police Chief Demitrous Cook said.
The boy escaped injury when four men kicked in the back door of an apartment in the 500 block of Carroll Parkway and shot his father, Jeffrey Dawkins.
Dawkins and two other men were hospitalized after the incident but all have been treated and released, officials said. The two men who were not injured also were in police custody.
No charges had been filed as of Wednesday.
Police found a handgun, cartridges for a second handgun, and a small amount of marijuana in Dawkins’ apartment after obtaining a search warrant, Cook said. They are trying to determine who owns the gun.
Police also asked Wednesday for the community’s help in their search for a second handgun, which they believe was tossed by one of the four suspects as they fled the scene. Police have concentrated their search along Carroll Parkway, Pleasant Drive, and 187th Street west to Halsted Street. If a resident finds a weapon, he or she should call 9-1-1.
“It’s a safety issue. We don’t want a child to find it,” Cook said.
Four men, all from Chicago, were apprehended in the 17600 block of Halsted Street moments after the shooting, but no weapon was found in the van.
Dawkins, 21, was shot in his side, but police said he returned fire.
The lack of cooperation by Dawkins and the four suspects prompted the Cook County state’s attorney’s office to seek an interview with the toddler, who was sleeping with his father before the break-in, Cook said.
“I’m sure the kid was traumatized. But we will follow up with what the state’s attorney has asked us to do,” he said.
A message left with the state’s attorney’s office Wednesday was not returned.
