Mail carrier tried to save 8-year-old boy killed in Grand Crossing shooting: 'Traumatizing'

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Chicago mail carriers navigate not only the elements, but sometimes elements of danger.

Last week, a mail carrier was called on to help an injured child, and she did not hesitate.

ABC7 Chicago is now streaming 24/7. Click here to watch

Tuesday marked five days since 8-year-old Josiah Hooker was killed inside a Grand Crossing home.

Memories of that day keep replaying for a Chicago mail carrier Sharralle Williams.

She was delivering mail across the street on Thursday when she saw a woman screaming for help.

"I dropped my stuff, and I ran to go help. When I got over there, I realized it was a baby," Williams said.

Before the paramedics arrived, Williams helped a distraught father doing CPR on his son. Williams told ABC7 she had been trained to do CPR as a childcare provider.

"I said, 'You breathe for me. I'll do the chest compressions. Let's try to take care of this young man.' And I thought, 'Oh God, this is a child,'" Williams said.

Despite their efforts, the boy died at Comer Children's Hospital.

"I just broke down crying some more, because I was hoping against - hope that he was going to make it," Williams said.

Williams, who is a mother of two young children herself, says this has shaken her. She has not been back to work.

SEE ALSO | Boy, 13, killed in shooting inside Englewood home ID'd; pastor calls death 'unfortunate accident'

"This has been traumatizing," Williams said. "I'm extremely sad. I have cried so much since this has happened."

ABC7 has learned that Derrick Taylor is charged with endangering a child and illegal possession of a weapon.

In court, prosecutors claimed that Taylor was the sole adult home with his five sons and stepsons, and he left the gun on the dresser behind a TV while he and the boys took a nap. But one of boys handled the gun, according to prosecutors.

Taylor claims he told authorities he woke up to the sound of gunfire and seeing his 8-year-old with what would be a deadly wound.

Williams has a son one year older than Hooker, and another son one year younger. And she now tells her boys, if they ever see a gun, do not touch it.

"I just grabbed my kids so fast and just held them and cried, and saying, 'Mommy, what's wrong?'" Williams said. "We should not be burying our children... Keep that family in your prayers. I'm going to keep that family in my prayers as well."

Williams says she wants to go back to work eventually. But for now, she says she is getting support, as she cannot sleep without seeing that scene. She told ABC7 that she misses her customers.

Williams also shared that she was inspired to be a mail carrier when she was a child by her neighborhood mail carrier, and she hopes to inspire others to be of service in their communities whenever possible.