4-year-old boy among 6 killed in Chicago shootings since Friday evening; 56 others woundedSun-Times Wireon September 7, 2021 at 1:51 am

Six people were killed and at least 56 others wounded, including eight children, in shootings across Chicago over Labor Day weekend.

The youngest homicide victim was a 4-year-old boy who was shot while he was getting a haircut in a home in Woodlawn Friday night.

Mychal Moultry Jr., who was visiting from Alabama, was struck twice in the head about 9 p.m. when bullets tore through the window of a home in the 6500 block of South Ellis Avenue, Chicago police said.

The boy’s father held him until paramedics arrived, community activist Andrew Holmes said. Mychal died Sunday. He was the second 4-year-old shot in Chicago in a week, and the second 4-year-old killed in the city this year.

Chicago Police Supt. David Brown Monday pleaded with the community to help detectives after Mychal and seven other children were shot over the weekend.

“We need people in the community to come forward. This is beyond trusting police. This is about the safety of our babies,” Brown told reporters, noting that children are almost always the unintended victims of shootings.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the weekend’s violence was driven by people who “have absolutely no regard for the sanctity of human life.” Echoing Brown, Lightfoot once again urged residents of neighborhoods that are “under siege” to cooperate with the police to “stem the tide on this violence.”

“The people in the neighborhoods who are doing the shooting, they are known to people in the neighborhoods,” Lightfoot said in an unrelated news conference. “I understand the fear that’s out there but I’m just calling upon people in these neighborhoods — particularly when we think about the number of children who have been shot — you’ve got to have your faith overcome your fear. You’ve got to step up.”

Lightfoot said the focus has to be on gangs, adding that her office will reveal initiatives focused on gun violence “in the coming days” without disclosing any details.

Other kids struck by gunfire

In addition to Mychal, seven other juveniles were shot between 5 p.m. Friday and Monday night.

On Saturday, a 16-year-old boy showed up at Stroger Hospital with a gunshot wound, police said. Two girls, ages 12 and 15, were then among three wounded near a back-to-school event in East Garfield Park. Police said they recovered the car used in the shooting, but no one was in custody.

Saturday night, a 15-year-old boy was shot in a drive-by in Englewood, and a 13-year-old boy was seriously wounded in a South Chicago shooting. Police said the 13-year-old was in a basement with friends when someone shot through a window.

Sunday morning, a 14-year-old boy was shot while walking to a car with his father in Little Village, and a 17-year-old was among two teens shot in Washington Park.

Outside Comer Children’s Hospital Friday night, advocates try to console the father of a 4-year-old boy who was shot in Woodlawn.Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Fatal shootings

A 25-year-old was was killed Monday afternoon in a shooting in Brainerd. He was shot in the head in the 9200 block of South Eggleston Avenue and taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he died.

A 50-year-old man was killed Monday morning while driving in West Garfield Park. After being shot several times in the 4200 block of West Washington Boulevard, he crashed his car and died, police said.

A male was killed Sunday afternoon in South Shore when he was shot in the head while he was inside of a vehicle in the 7800 block of South Clyde Avenue, police said.

Hours earlier, Enrique Negrete, 23, was stopped at a traffic light in the 3700 block of South Kedzie Avenue when he was shot in the head following a brief conversation with the alleged shooter, who was traveling in another vehicle, police said. Negrete died in the 5500 block of South Albany Avenue in Brighton Park, about two miles south of the shooting scene.

Another man was killed late Saturday in Lawndale. Officers found the 41-year-old lying between two parked cars in the 1600 block of South Central Park Avenue, police said. He was rushed to Mount Sinai Hospital with two gunshot wounds to the chest and was later pronounced dead.

Aside from Negrete, none of the adult homicide victims had been identified.

Other shootings

Meanwhile, a 34-year-old CTA bus driver was shot Saturday night in the Loop when he was attacked on Washington Avenue near State Street, police said. Dennis Green, 38, was arrested and charged in the shooting.

Five people were also wounded in Lawndale early Saturday when someone opened fire from a car while the victims were at a gathering in the 1400 block of South Tripp Avenue, police said.

At least 41 others were wounded in weekend shootings.

Last weekend, at least six people were killed and 50 others wounded in citywide gun violence.

Contributing: Rachel Hinton and Tom Schuba

Chicago police investigate early Saturday in the 1400 block of South Tripp Avenue, where five people were shot and wounded in a mass shooting in Lawndale on the Southwest Side.Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Shell casings sits in the street Saturday night in the 7000 block of South Sangamon, where a 15-year-old boy was wounded in a drive-by shooting in Englewood on the South Side.Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

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