Police rule out gang shooting of baby

Cathy Scott

Friday, Feb. 27, 1998 | 10:04 a.m.

After talking with the Metro Police gang unit, investigators have ruled out a gang-related motive in the drive-by shooting of an infant Wednesday night, Metro Police Sgt. William Minor said.

But investigators have not determined if the crime was random or if the baby's family was the target of a hit, Minor said.

Meanwhile, the baby girl, whose name has not been released, was in critical but stable condition this morning, a University Medical Center nursing supervisor said. Surgeons closed an open wound on her face from a bullet that went through her cheek, the nursing supervisor said. Preparations to do reconstructive surgery at UMC were being made. The baby was improving and was expected to be upgraded to serious condition today, the nursing supervisor said.

On Wednesday night, the baby was in a car seat in the back seat of her parents' car on East Flamingo Road at 6th Street when a car stopped next to them and a gunman inside opened fire. The baby was hit once in the face.

Sgt. Randy Sutton said he was patrolling nearby and was at the scene "within minutes."

Sutton, who was with the Princeton (New Jersey) Police Department for 10 years before coming to Metro 12 years ago, said he grabbed the baby out of the car and cleared her air passage "because seconds count."

"Her face was half gone," Sutton said. "I grabbed her out of the car. I didn't even see her parents, I reacted so quickly."

He performed mouth-to-mouth resuscitation until paramedics arrived, he said.

In 1994, Sutton was given a commendation for performing CPR on a 5-year-old boy who had been injured during a car accident.

After Wednesday's shooting, Sutton stopped by the hospital to see the baby's parents.

"The mother saw me and said, 'Are you the one? Are you the one?' She threw her arms around me," he said. "Sometimes in policing, you have things like this happen. It makes it all worthwhile."

Sutton described the assailant as "an animal. It's an unbelievable tragedy that a 1-month old baby could be shot."

The gunman was still at large today. He was last seen driving what witnesses told police may have been an early model Oldsmobile painted with gray primer.