Boy, 4, killed and 7 other children shot in Labour Day weekend of violence in Chicago

At least 280 minors have been shot this year in the city

File: At least eight children were shot in Chicago over Labour Day weekend, including a 4-year-old boy, police said on Monday (Getty Images)

At least eight children were shot over the Labour Day weekend, including a four-year-old boy who was hit by a stray bullet while he was getting a haircut at his home in Chicago.

The police said on Monday that four-year-old Mychal Moultry was in his home in the Woodlawn neighbourhood on the city’s South Side when a shooting erupted outside the residence around 9pm on Friday. The boy succumbed to his injury.

Police are still looking for the killer and a $9000 reward has been announced for anyone with information that could lead to the identification, arrest and prosecution of the person responsible for the child’s death, officials said.

Chicago Police superintendent David Brown told the media that “children being shot in Chicago are getting caught in the crossfire of criminals and their intended targets, both of whom appear not to care if children are in the way.”

He added: “I’m not trying to vilify the victim, but these innocent young children should not be the byproduct of your criminal behaviour. This is directly to the offenders who are being targeted: You know the life you lead, you know that you’re being targeted, or that you’ve done something to cause this retribution from some rival gang or some rival person. Why are you continuing to be around young people, our children?”

About Mychal, deputy chief of detectives Rahman Muhammad said: “This victim was inside his residence in the front area getting his hair cut when two bullets came through the front window and struck our victim in the head.”

He was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

According to the data analysed by ABC station WLS in Chicago, the violent Labour Day weekend shootings in Chicago added to a grim toll of at least 280 minors who have been shot this year in the city. This includes 35 who died.

At least seven other victims in the age group of 12 to 18 were shot in Chicago over the weekend, police confirmed. Local reports also said that another 49 adults were shot in the city, four of them fatally, between 8pm on Friday and 8am on Monday.

Mr Muhammad said that a 13-year-old boy was shot while inside his home on Saturday in the South Side. No suspects have been identified yet. The child is in serious condition at the Comer Children’s Hospital, police said.

In another shooting on Saturday, a 14-year-old boy and his 11-year-old sister were both wounded at a community event where the siblings were volunteering in the Garfield Park neighbourhood on the city’s West Side. The shooting took place at around 3.20pm when two suspects opened gunfire from a car near where the event was taking place.

Police said that the sister suffered a bullet graze wound to her hip and her brother was shot in the ankle. They were taken to the Rush University Medical Centre, where they were treated and released.

A 25-year-old man was also shot four times, including twice in the chest, in the same incident and was taken to Mt Sinai Hospital, where he was treated for non-life-threatening injuries.

Police are yet to ascertain whether the man was the intended target in the shooting.

Another 14-year-old boy was hit by a bullet while walking with his father to a car around 1030am on the city’s West Side. Again, no suspect has been identified yet, police said.

Another 14-year-old boy was shot on Sunday in the Little Village neighbourhood in the southeast part of the city. The shooting took place around 3am and he was hit in the thigh and buttocks. The boy was standing outside when the shooting took place, police said.

The boy was treated at Mt. Sinai Hospital.

Two teenagers — a 17-year-old and an 18-year-old — were both shot around 2am on Sunday while they were in a car in the Hyde Park neighbourhood on the South Side travelling home from a party.  Police said that one was shot in the back while the other victim was hit in the leg.

They were taken to the University of Chicago Medical Centre and were both in stable condition.

Meanwhile, Mr Brown pleaded with the residents: “People in the community know who the offenders are and the circumstances behind who’s targeted, and we need people in the community to come forward. This is beyond trusting the police. This is about the safety of our babies.”