CHICAGO — A 25-year-old man has been charged with attempted murder after police said he shot a toddler during a Lake Shore Drive road rage incident earlier this month.
Deandre Binion, 25, of the 11000 block of South Green Street in West Roseland, was arrested around noon Thursday in the 500 block of West Taylor Street, police said. Binion was charged with three felony counts of first-degree attempted murder and one felony count of aggravated battery.
Kayden Swann, now 22 months old, was shot April 6 in a road rage incident that began near 35th and Lake Shore Drive and ended up with a shooting near Grant Park. Swann was recently transferred out of intensive care but is still being treated at Lurie Children’s Hospital.
Kayden was in a car being driven by his grandmother’s then-boyfriend, Jushawn Brown, who was arrested and charged with felony gun charges later that day.
Cook County prosecutor Andrea Williams said Brown was driving Swann’s grandmother in the front seat and the boy in his carseat when the driver of an SUV merging into his lane almost hit his car. Williams described Brown in court as Kayden’s grandfather but later clarified he is not biologically related to the toddler.
Brown pulled over and yelled at the driver of the SUV, Williams said. She said Brown and the unknown man exchanged words and then the other man produced a gun and asked Brown “what he wanted to do about it while dangling the firearm at the defendant.”
Brown picked up and placed his 9-millimeter gun on his lap and continued driving north on Lake Shore Drive in an attempt to get away from the SUV driver. The SUV driver continued to follow Brown’s family and began shooting at their vehicle, a white Lincoln sedan, Williams said.
One of the bullets shattered the rear window and hit Kayden in his head, Williams said.
Binion is alleged to be the driver of the SUV who shot Kayden.
Police and Mayor Lori Lightfoot said it appeared Brown and the other man had been shooting at each other over several blocks. Police said at the time they found multiple shell casings between the 900 and 1100 blocks of South Lake Shore Drive near Grant Park.
But Williams said in court police concluded all the shell casings came from the same weapon, which was not Brown’s. An updated statement from the police department then omitted any mention of Brown firing shots.
After the shooting, Brown crashed into another car near Jackson and Lake Shore Drive before a good Samaritan drove them to Northwestern Hospital. Kayden was transferred to Lurie with a severe brain injury, requiring “full critical care support.”
Doctors placed him in a medically induced coma and on a ventilator. On Monday, hospital officials said Kayden was out of intensive care and making good progress.
Binion is expected in Bond Court on Friday.