Witness says infant and teen father wounded by relative with .22 rifle
By MIKE D'AMOUR, CALGARY SUN
SIKSIKA FIRST NATION -- A baby who was shot in the head was clinging to life in Alberta Children's Hospital last night as his family gathered at his bedside, praying the youngster would somehow survive the devastating wound.
Police allege the tot and his 17-year-old father were shot by the 16-year-old brother of the baby's mother -- none of whom can be named by law -- yesterday morning on Siksika First Nation reserve, about 90 km east of Calgary.
Gleichen RCMP were called about 6:10 a.m. to the front yard of a trailer home on the reserve, where they found a 10- to 11-month-old baby unconscious and bleeding from a bullet wound to his head.
The tot was sitting in his stroller when he was shot, said a family relation, who cannot be named.
"We were told the bullet went in one side of his head and out the other," she said.
A fourth person at the scene, the baby's 16-year-old mom, who is pregnant with her second child, was not injured.
An uncle of the two gunshot victims said he lives in the trailer.
"I got up sometime after 6 a.m. to use the bathroom and heard voices outside," recalled the man.
Curious, the man said he opened the front door to take a look.
"I saw (a male) with a bolt-action .22 caliber rifle in his hands," he recalled.
"My nephew picked up a stick to fight him off and to try and get the rifle."
That's when the uncle said he heard several reports from a firearm.
"I heard crack, crack, crack, crack," he said.
"He had to pull the bolt back every time he shot and he was pretty fast."
One of the bullets pierced the baby's head, a second slug ripped through his father's right forearm.
Police did not say where, or if, any other bullets were found.
Moments after shooting, the gunman fled.
Paramedics did what they could at the scene, then whisked the injured man and his boy to separate Calgary hospitals.
The injured baby's father underwent emergency surgery in Foothills hospital yesterday afternoon.
Cops used a police dog to track the alleged gunman to a nearby area where he was hiding in a house, just a few kilometres from the shooting scene.
He gave himself up without a struggle, said RCMP Const. Kerry Doran, who also gave an update on the victims' medical conditions.
"The father's injuries are not life-threatening, but the baby is in bad shape and it could go either way for him -- the next 48-hours are critical," she said yesterday afternoon.
A cousin of both victims said doctors had no good news for the family at that time.
"They said the baby might not make it. His whole body is swollen," said the relative.
"But even if he does pull through, the doctors say he will be brain damaged."
Early in the day, cops had yellow police tape around two trailer homes.
A child's stroller was on its side in the front yard of one of the homes.
Charges were expected to be laid against the suspect last night.
http://www.canoe.ca/NewsStand/Calgar...46459-sun.html
Baby shot during dispute 
makes me very sad to hear about things like this when a child and his baby are wounded like this...17 and a father of one, and one on the way...and 16 and two pregnancies...sheesh.... i am praying for the family
