A seven-year-old boy hit by a bullet that came through the window of his Hamilton home was the unintended victim of a targeted shooting, local police said Friday as they continued searching for at least two suspects.
Hamilton Police Det. Sgt. Jim Callender said the boy is in stable condition after being struck by at least one bullet fired from the back yard of the home just before 8 p.m. on Thursday.
Callender said there were three adults inside the home at the time and he's not sure which one was the shooters' intended target.
The child himself, Callender said, certainly was not.
"This is a seven-year-old, innocent child who was doing nothing that precipitated the injuries sustained by them," Callender said at a news conference. "We are looking for community members, the people that do know something, to take that step forward to tell the police what they know."
Callender said police were called to the home at 7:53 p.m. While the residence itself has not been the scene of past police calls, Callender said at least one of the people inside at the time of the shooting was known to the force.
He declined to comment on the nature or extent of the boy's injuries, but said he was hit by at least one bullet that ripped through the glass and frame of a main-floor window. Another child inside at the time was not hurt, he added.
"These are the investigations that really strike home with you," Callender said, calling the boy "a truly innocent" victim.
"The child had nothing to do with this. They were brought into a situation that they had no control over."
While multiple units of the local force are now involved in the investigation, Callender said police have not yet been able to identify suspects in the case.
He said at least two people are believed to be involved and were last seen travelling in a light-coloured sedan, but said officers do not have descriptions of who they're looking for.
Police are combing through surveillance video to gather more information, he said, but called on members of the public to come forward with any additional information they may have.
The boy is the first person shot in Hamilton this year, but police said they've recorded two other shooting incidents in which no one was hurt. The city recorded 23 shooting victims out of 47 total incidents in 2019.