Five children have been shot in back seats of their parents' cars in Chicago this year, and only one has survived

CHICAGO (CBS) -- It has been happening with frightening regularity – children in Chicago are being shot, and in many cases killed, while riding in cars with family.

As CBS 2's Sabrina Franza reported Monday, one child of course is too many. But there have been five kids shot this year in Chicago while sitting in the back seats of their parents' cars.

"We actually are seeing relatively the same numbers as we saw last year, and last year was definitely an uptick from the prior year," said Dr. Marion Henry, a pediatric trauma surgeon at the University of Chicago's Comer Children's Hospital.

Henry sees pain play out over and over again. This year, 70 kids ages 15 and under have come through the emergency room doors at Comer – all of them shot and wounded.

"They are in the wrong place at the wrong time, and the injuries can be devastating - and sometimes, you know, catastrophic," Henry said.

The effects can be catastrophic too.

"People talk about PTSD all the time – post-traumatic stress disorder," said Arne Duncan. "But there's nothing 'post' about it. This is present."

Duncan, former Chicago Public Schools chief executive officer and U.S. Education Secretary, now works with in violence protection with the organization Chicago CRED. He says change starts in the community – with street outreach, counseling, and job development.

"We can't just have an arrest-only strategy when almost no one gets arrested," he said.

Indeed there has not been an arrest in four of the five incidents in which children were shot in back seats this year alone.

Nyzireya Moore was shot and killed on her birthday in March. She had just turned 12 when that celebration was cut short in West Englewood.

Five-month-old Cecilia Thomas died in a drive-by shooting in South Shore in June.

Devin McGregor, 5, had just started kindergarten when someone shot him in the North of Howard section of Rogers Park. He died a few days later.

Just this past Friday, 3-year-old Mateo Zastro died after someone fired in an apparent road rage incident in West Lawn. Mateo loved dinosaurs.

And on Sunday, 7-year-old Legend Barr was shot in his leg on his way to church with family in Roseland. He was the only child on this list who survived, and also the only case where there has been an arrest.

"Our officers were out there – they were able to immediately apprehend the subject," said Chicago Police Deputy Chief Larry Snelling. "Charges are pending."

"When you're taking care of a child, there's an entire family involved," Henry said, "so you have the trauma not just to the child, but you have the trauma to the parents."

Dr. Henry works in fixing the physical injury – though the wounds cut deeper. She says the response should too.

"To really take care of our whole communities and recognize how there's a ripple effect" should be the goal, Henry said.

Henry said most of all, she would like to see the violence stop.

"It's something none of us want to be doing," Henry said. "We wish that someone would put us out of a job, and that we would stop seeing so many children who are injured by firearm injuries."

Dr. Henry echoed Duncan's point – these shootings do not happen in a vacuum, and they are not solved unless neighbors who see something, say something.

"The police have to rebuild trust with the community," Duncan said. "The only way that they're effective is if people trust them to talk to them."

At a press briefing Monday, police Supt. David Brown had the same idea – asking the public to come forward with anything that they know. Tipsters can report information anonymously.