A 4-year-old boy was fatally shot in the head this past weekend amid a series of violent crimes in Chicago, NBC News reports.

Mychal Moultry Jr. was getting his hair styled in the front part of a home on Friday when he was struck in the head by two bullets that entered through a window.


Additionally, at least seven other children and dozens of people were wounded in Chicago over the Labor Day weekend. "These innocent young children should not be the byproduct of your criminal behavior," Police Superintendent David O. Brown said to those linked to the violence.

Rahman Muhammad, deputy chief of the Chicago police detective division, said that the detectives are continuing to canvass the scene of Moultry’s death and find potential witnesses.

"We definitely need the help from the public to further this investigation," Muhammad told reporters on Monday.

Over the weekend, at least three other people were killed and 53 were injured by gunfire, police said.

An 11-year-old was struck by a bullet on Saturday and a 14-year-old was hit in the ankle when multiple shots were fired into a crowd at a gas station for a back-to-school event. A 25-year-old was also shot multiple times.

On Saturday evening, a 13-year-old was hit by one of several bullets that ripped through a basement window. A 14-year-old was also involved in a shooting early Sunday as he walked with his father to their car and a 17-year-old traveling in a car after a party was caught up in gunfire.

The extent of the victim’s injuries was unclear, and no suspects were in custody.

According to a new crime statistics report for the month of July, shootings increased by 15% and the number of people shot in the city rose by nearly 10% year over year, NBC 5 Chicago reports

Police also say that 445 homicides have been recorded so far in 2021, compared to 446 during the first seven months of 2020.

Superintendent Brown told reporters that shootings involving children are typically classified in three categories: someone else is being targeted while young people are innocent bystanders; the shootings occur at homes while the targeted people are visiting relatives and, again, the children are bystanders; and children are targeted in cases of mistaken identity.