The mother of Mychal “MJ” Moultry Jr. — a 4-year-old Decatur, Alabama, boy who was fatally shot last month in Chicago while sitting in a barber chair, getting his hair braided — stood outside the Woodlawn building where the shooting occurred and asked the public for help this weekend.
“It has been 59 days, and we don’t have any leads,” Angela Gregg, MJ’s mother, said. “We don’t have any justice. We don’t have any arrests in my son’s case.”
Gregg spoke at a news conference with Mayor Lori Lightfoot, Chicago police Superintendent David Brown and street activist Andrew Holmes surrounded by other families who have also lost a loved one to gun violence this year in the city. Gregg said she has been working with the mayor’s office and detectives, but they’ve told her they need more help from the community.
Gregg said she has been canvassing the neighborhood every Saturday, giving out flowers and talking to people to “try to convince people to come forward.”
While people have talked to her and opened up their doors to hear her story, Gregg said she has still received nothing to help move her son’s case forward.
“It’s unreal what’s happening to our children here,” she said. “Help me get justice for my son, and help me fight for the other children of the city of Chicago. I definitely want his small life to make big changes.”
MJ was a student in Decatur City Schools.
Gregg said they have raised $15,000 for anyone who can provide information that would lead to the arrest and conviction of someone in her son’s shooting. Lightfoot also announced at the news conference that she is adding another $10,000 to that, making the reward $25,000.
“This $10,000 is available in all of the homicides in our city,” Lightfoot said. “If that’s what it takes to find your consciousness, your humanity, then so be it. You can claim that money, but we need your help.”
Lightfoot said there are 34 unsolved murders involving children in the city.
“These murders don’t happen in isolation,” Lightfoot said. “They happen and people know. The shooters always talk.”
On Sept. 3 in the 6500 block of South Ellis, MJ was getting his hair braided inside a building when, grainy video evidence shows, right before 9 p.m. a “dark-colored” vehicle pulled in front of the building, Brown said. Three people got out and started shooting into the building. Two bullets went through the window, hitting MJ in the head. He later died from his injuries on Sept. 5.
“His family will never be the same,” Brown said. “It is the most unnatural thing to do to bury a child.”
MJ and his mother arrived to Chicago from Decatur, Alabama, to celebrate Labor Day weekend. He loved trips to the beach and the movie “Cars.”
Gregg had said that she was not there when the shooting occurred at the apartment of a family friend, who was injured from the shattered glass while braiding the child’s hair. The boy’s father, Mychal Moultry Sr., was near his son when shots were fired, but was not injured.
Authorities said initial police interviews with the boy’s parents and the home’s resident did not reveal a possible motive. Police said they recovered 27 spent shell casings from a .45-caliber handgun and a mini rifle.
Anyone with information regarding the shooting of MJ, should contact the Chicago police tiplines at 833-408-0069 or 312-746-7330.
