A lot sounds weird about this case to me. There is so little information, I can't decide if this is a situation like that of Aveion Lewis, a custody issue, a gang/drug related issue. Or if LE has an idea of what is going on and is staying quiet for the safety of the child? Or he is not getting much deserved attention due to his race and being from a bad neighborhood.
FWIW, I have no other reason for questioning the possibility of a gang/drug related issue simply due to how well known this area is for being dangerous.
I totally understand where you're coming from in regard to suspecting it is somehow gang-related. I grew up outside of Chicago, and there are just places you can't go - this is one of them. A young woman with a baby in that area /has/ gang ties. There is no way around it, really. She knows people at the very least.
Now, whether she was actively involved in one is another question altogether. Whether she was dating someone in a gang, or whether the father was a gang member, etc... etc... who the heck knows, and that's what I suspect police are figuring out.
I think if it was her car, then there would be more information about it. If they know the boy's name, then they likely have hers as well. I would think there would be a tag # in the information if it was a carjacking.
This is especially bad - to beat a woman and take a child by force as it is stated. This is more reminiscent of Mexican Drug Cartel activity than Chicago Gang activity, frankly.
Do you happen to know which gang is in that particular section? I have references for maps with that info. - I'll go look and post here if/when I find it.
ETA
I wanted to mention that I would go with gang-related 95% of the time when dealing with events in that area - as well as a few others in Chicago. That's honestly just the way it is. And if it's not gang-related business-type crime, then it's crimes committed by gang members - like domestic violence, petty theft, etc...
As always, all of the above is 100% my opinion only - especially with so little to go on...
I'm still a little in shock at how this sounds to me - kidnapping by force and assaulting a child's mother like that? Particularly brutal sounding...