2-year-old boy found in apartment after mother, grandfather shot to death, family says
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Police are conducting a death investigation after a toddler was found inside an East Chatham apartment with two dead bodies Wednesday on the city's Far South Side.
Police responded to the 8100-block of S. Drexel Avenue for a well-being check.
When officers arrived and made entry, a 27-year-old woman and a 79-year-old man were found dead, police said. A 2-year-old child was found unharmed.
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The child was taken to Comer Children's Hospital for observation.
The man and woman sustained fatal gunshot wounds, according to police.
The two victims have been identified by family and colleagues as Javonni Jenkins and her father, Curtis Hardman.
Jenkins was a medical assistant at Holy Cross Hospital. When she didn't show up for work, they knew something was wrong and colleagues started calling her. Jenkins' 2-year-old son, CJ, eventually answered the phone, they told ABC7.
"No one was answering so finally the baby answered. We tried calling again through FaceTime to see if he answered, and he answered," said Viviana, one of Jenkins' co-workers who was too distraught to show her face.
The colleagues had the toddler on FaceTime for several hours. They were the ones who initiated the well-being check after they didn't see Jenkins the entire call.
"All we could see was from his face up, so the ceiling the majority of the time," said one colleague who didn't want to be identified. "He was kind of just walking around, and they didn't hear any adult in the background."
"The whole time I had the baby on the phone, he was very content, playing with his toys," said Nicole Worth, another co-worker of Jenkins. "Once I had that baby on the phone and after a certain amount of time of no parents calling the baby, you don't hear that -- there's something wrong."
Once the co-workers got to the Far South Side apartment, that's when police discovered the mother and grandfather dead.
"We came a little too late," Worth said. "We saved the baby. That's all we could do."
Now, Jenkins' family and co-workers are left to try and figure out what happened.
I'm trying to hold it together because she didn't deserve this," said Jenkins' cousin, Germaine Owens.
Chicago police said they believe this was an isolated incident and there is no threat to the public.
Area 2 Detective are investigating and interviewing potential witnesses.
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