Roseland man charged with attempted murder in Sunday shooting of 7-year-old

ROSELAND, Chicago - A local man wanted on two warrants has been charged with attempted murder in the Sunday morning shooting that wounded a 7-year-old boy while he was on his way to church with his family.

KENTRELL GAYDEN, 22, of the Roseland neighborhood, was officially charged by Chicago Police on Tuesday with one felony count of first-degree attempted murder, one felony count of aggravated battery/discharge of a firearm, and he reportedly had two warrants out for his arrest.

The incident in question happened around 11:20 a.m. Sunday morning on the 10800 block of S. State Street near Universal Community Missionary Church in the Roseland neighborhood on the city's south side. Gayden lives just down the street and around the corner from the church.

According to police, a family of five were in one of their cars and on the way to church when they saw Gayden breaking another family car, which they later told WGNTV was their grandmother's car.^[1]

As the family went to park and confront the man, Deputy Chief Larry Snelling told reporters Sunday afternoon that the man suddenly pulled out a rifle and fired shots in the direction of the family.

The family's 7-year-old son was shot in the leg. Someone drove the boy to Roseland Hospital where he was reported to have a shattered femur, requiring rods and plates to fix the damage. The boy is expected to survive and no one else in the family was struck.

Gayden fled the scene but officers were reportedly able to take him into custody approximately 40 minutes later. Deputy Chief Snelling said the suspect was caught with personal items from the vehicle, and the victim's family later identified him as the individual who opened fire.

As noted by the Chicago Sun-Times on Sunday, the boy was the fourth child 14-years-old or younger shot just last weekend. This shooting followed the fatal shooting of 3-year-old Mateo Zastro, shot in the head on Friday night, in what officials believe to be a road rage incident.^[2]

The church that the family was attending on the 10800 block of S. State Street is the same church at which three men were wounded in a drive-by shooting at a funeral back in July.

Kentrell Gayden was due in bond court Wednesday.

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