CHICAGO (WBBM NEWSRADIO) — A 4-year-old boy is among the dead after shootings in Chicago this weekend, and the police superintendent said he has a message for the adults who are almost always the targets of shootings that end up hurting kids.
“Why are you continuing to be around young people — our children? That’s on you,” Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown said on Monday during a media availability.
He was speaking after a violent weekend in which at least four people were killed, including a four-year-old boy who was fatally struck by bullets that pierced a home.
Brown said the harming of children should not be the byproduct of an adult’s criminal behavior.
“We will hold offenders accountable. But why are you, living a life of crime, involving innocent four-year-olds? Or 13-year-olds? Or 11-year-olds?
“Stay away from children if you want to live that life. You’re harming this community. You’re harming these families.”
Brown said even in his own family, there are relatives he will not invite over because he knows what kind of lifestyle they lead.
The 4-year-old boy who died over the weekend was identified as Mychal Moultry Jr., who was visiting from Alabama.
The child was struck twice in his head Friday evening in the 6500 block of South Ellis Avenue as he was getting a haircut, authorities said. Mychal died Sunday evening at Comer Children’s Hospital.
The boy’s father held him until paramedics arrived at the scene of the shooting, community activist Andrew Holmes told the Chicago Sun-Times.
“Everyone would want a kid just like him,” Mychal Moultry Sr. told WGN.
Contributing: Sun-Times Media Wire