Mayor Lori Lightfoot and Chicago Police Supt. David Brown joined Angela Gregg, along with other parents who’ve lost children to gun violence, in asking for the community’s help.
Every Saturday since 4-year-old Mychal Moultry Jr. was fatally shot Labor Day weekend in Woodlawn, the boy’s mother, Angela Gregg, has canvassed the surrounding areas looking for answers.
Fifty-nine days later, Gregg said the Chicago Police Department still doesn’t have any leads in her son’s case.
“I’m just asking, if you know anything about my son’s case ... do the right thing, just help me get justice for my son,” said Gregg, who’s raised a $15,000 reward for information leading to an arrest and conviction.
On Saturday, Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Chicago Police Supt. David Brown and community activist Andrew Holmes joined Gregg and other parents who’ve lost children to gun violence to call for community members to come forward and share information about their cases with police.
“These murders don’t happen in isolation, they happen and people know,” Lightfoot said. “The shooters always talk.”
Lightfoot said Mychal’s case is one of 34 unsolved murders involving children in the city.
“Too much bloodshed has happened in our streets, and we cannot stand silently while that happens, not while babies are being taken,” Lightfoot said. “So I’m urging and asking and pleading for people with information about MJ’s case and the other 34 unsolved child murders in our city to come forward.”
Shortly before 9 p.m. on Sept. 3, Mychal, known to his loved ones as “M.J.,” was getting his hair braided with his father when bullets flew through the window of an apartment in the 6500 block of South Ellis Avenue, Brown said. The boy was struck twice in the head and died two days later.
A “grainy” surveillance video showed three people getting out of a dark-colored vehicle and start shooting into the building.
“His family will never be the same,” Brown said. “It is the most unnatural thing to do to bury a child.”
Brown said Mychal and his father were not the intended targets and that the shooting was the result of a “gang conflict happening in this community.”
“We should treat these young people who lost their lives tragically, as if they were our family members,” Brown said. “Come forward. We need your help. Bring justice and bring just a small measure of peace to these families here who are continuing to grieve their so tragic loss.”
Moments before the news conference, Gregg fixed the weathered memorial for her son that sits against the brick facade of the apartment he was in on the night of his death. She said other children in the building created it, putting stuffed animals, toys and a banner depicting Lightning McQueen — a character in Pixar’s “Cars” franchise — in his memory.
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Gregg has diligently gone door-to-door to hand out flyers and talk to community members “to try to convince people to come forward. Many have opened their doors to her and listened as she shared her son’s story, and are “being as helpful as they can,” she said.
But she’s waiting for the tip the will give police a break in her son’s case.
“It’s unreal what’s happening to our children here,” Gregg said. “We’re coming to you as mothers, as fathers, as parents, as sisters, as brothers, and asking you to help us seek justice.”
Anyone with information about any crime should contact the Chicago police tip lines at 833-408-0069 or 312-746-7330. Tips can be made anonymously.
from Chicago Sun-Times - All https://ift.tt/3pSvV96
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