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The six-year-old
found the loaded revolver on top of the refrigerator and shot
little brother Eian Santiago in the head on Saturday evening,
according to police and the Cook County Medical Examiner's
office. The older brother's name was not disclosed.
The boys' father, Michael Santiago, 25, was arrested and charged
with child endangerment, a felony, police said. He appeared in
court on Sunday and is being held on a $75,000 bond, according
to DNAinfo.com Chicago, a local news web site.
"He was a beautiful kid. It's real crazy," the grandfather,
Israel LaSalle, said in a tearful interview on CLTV, a local
television station. "That's why parents should never have guns
in the house."
The shooting happened at about 9:05 p.m. CDT (1405 GMT) on the
city's northwest side. The three-year-old was carried by a
family member a block away to Norwegian American Hospital, and
then transported to Mount Sinai Medical Center, where he was
pronounced dead shortly before midnight, officials said.
Michael Santiago told police he was a former member of the
Spanish Cobras street gang and had purchased the gun from a gang
member for protection, said police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi.
At the bond hearing, Cook County Assistant State's Attorney
Joseph DiBella said the shooting happened when the children were
in the care of their grandfather while Santiago was at work and
his wife was at the store with a younger child, age one,
according to DNAinfo.com.
Santiago had shown the six-year-old the gun a week before,
telling him it was only for adults, DiBella said, according to
the web site. The gun had been wrapped in pajama pants.
(Editing by Jeffrey Benkoe and Nick Zieminski)
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