CHICAGO – A 9-year-old boy remained in critical condition Thursday after he was shot in the chest while riding in a car with his mother on Chicago’s South Side, officials said.

The boy was wounded in a shooting the prior evening in the 6700 block of South Evans Avenue, family said.

He was taken to University of Chicago Comer Children’s Hospital where he was immediately taken into surgery. Family members embraced outside, and there was word from one relative the boy’s condition was improving by the 9 p.m. hour.

Detectives said they believe the boy’s mother drove him to the hospital. Police looked for bullet holes in the family vehicle and found none.