Shortly after arriving in Chicago to celebrate the long Labor Day weekend, 4-year-old Mychal Moultry Jr. was getting his hair braided when bullets shattered the large picture windows of a Woodlawn apartment late Friday, striking the Alabama boy in the head.

       Authorities have confirmed the child, who loved trips to the beach and the movie “Cars,” was pronounced dead just before 5 p.m. Sunday after being removed from life support at Comer Children’s Hospital.

       On Monday, a few star-shaped blue balloons and a stuffed dinosaur were left as a makeshift memorial outside the apartment building where Mychal was shot. The boy’s father told WGN News his son was an ideal child.

       “Every parent loves him,” said Mychal Moultry Sr., according to the news station. “Everyone would want a kid just like him.”

       Police said the shooting occurred at about 9 p.m. Friday in the 6500 block of South Ellis Avenue.

       The child was sitting in a barber chair getting his hair braided, with both of his parents and the homeowner nearby. He and his mother arrived in Chicago earlier in the day Friday from their home in Decatur, Alabama, according to police.

       Mychal’s mother also suffered injuries after being struck by glass fragments, according to authorities.

       No one had been charged as of early Monday, police confirmed. Authorities said initial police interviews with the boy’s parents and the homeowner did not reveal a possible motive. Police said they recovered 27 spent shell casings from a .45 caliber handgun and a 5.7mm mini rifle.

       Community activist Andrew Holmes, who is working to help the family, called on anyone with information about the shooting to contact police. He described the boy’s relatives as a close-knit family.

       “They were going on pure prayers that he’d pull through,” Holmes told the Tribune early Monday. “There’s only so much the doctors can do.”

       Holmes continued, “Give this family some justice. If you know who this shooter is, give the information up to the authorities so no one else loses a child like this.”

       Police said eight children, 17 years old and younger, were shot so far this Labor Day weekend.

       Tribune reporters Rosemary Sobol and Jade Yan contributed to this report.

       cmgutowski@chicagotribune.com

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