Chicago mayor and police superintendent urge people to provide information to solve September shooting death of four-year-old

By Claudia Dominguez, CNN

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot asked residents in a news conference Saturday to “step up” and come forward with any information that will lead to the shooter or shooters that killed a 4-year-old boy on September 3.

“We are committed as a city to do everything that we can to bring these people to justice. But ladies and gentlemen, we need your help. Step up,” Lightfoot said. “Have a heart for these families.”

Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown identified the boy as MJ and said the child was getting his hair braided when three individuals got out of their car and started shooting. Neither MJ nor his family were the intended target, Brown said, however, two bullets pierced the window where MJ was getting his hair braided.

MJ was struck in the head and died two days later, Brown said.

“His family will never be the same,” Brown added.

Brown says that investigators need the public’s help to identify the shooters because the surveillance video was “too grainy to identify the perpetrators.”

Lightfoot said that the reward was raised to $25,000 for any information on the person or people responsible for this shooting.

“Come forward, do the right thing,” Lightfoot urged. “These children are not statistics, they are loved. Their memories are never going to be forgotten.”

When asked if more people have come forward, Brown said that they have received some tips and that the police department “overall” has cleared more homicides in 2021 than in more than a decade.

Brown said the shooting is believed to be gang-related.

“We believe it’s a gang conflict,” Brown said.

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