A young Chicago mom was fatally shot while shielding her 1-year-old daughter from gunfire outside her home, police said.
Brittany Hill, 24, had just gotten out of a car and was holding her girl when someone opened fire from a silver Chevrolet Impala around 8:50 a.m. Tuesday in a neighborhood on Chicago’s West Side, cops said.
Hill was shot in her right side, but managed to take cover behind a car and place her body over her baby, said police spokeswoman Michelle Tannehill, according to the Chicago Tribune.
“She shielded the baby from the gunfire,” Tannehill said.
Hill, whose young son was also nearby when the shooting erupted, was pronounced dead at West Suburban Medical Center in Oak Park. Her daughter was not injured.
Investigators believe the shooter was targeting three people who were near Hill in a possible gang-related attack.
“This is not a random act of violence, unfortunately,” Tannehill said, according to the Tribune. “It could possibly have been a targeted incident due to gang conflicts and retaliations in the area.”
No arrests have been made in the shooting, but cops believe they may have found the gunman’s car and were reviewing surveillance footage.
Community activist Ja’Mal Green, who went to high school with Hill, called the mother “a hero.”
“She loved her kids. … She made sure her daughter was safe,” Green told the news outlet, adding that Hill “was the life of every room she walked in.”
Hill’s death comes after at least 43 people were shot — seven fatally — in Chicago over Memorial Day weekend, according to the news site.
With Post wires