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Six people were killed and at least 59 others were wounded in Chicago, including eight children 17 and younger, over the Labor Day weekend.

The youngest murder victim was a 4-year-old boy who was shot while getting a haircut in a home in Woodlawn Friday night.

Mychal Moultry Jr., who was visiting from Alabama, was struck twice in the head about 9 p.m. when bullets smashed through the window of a home in the 6500 block of South Ellis Avenue, Chicago police said.

The boy’s father held him until paramedics arrived, community activist Andrew Holmes said. Mychal died Sunday. He was the second 4-year-old shot in Chicago in a week, and the second 4-year-old killed in the city this year.

Chicago Police Supt. David Brown pleaded with the community Monday to help detectives after Mychal and seven other children were shot over the weekend.

“We need people in the community to come forward. This is beyond trusting police. This is about the safety of our babies,” Brown told reporters.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the weekend violence was driven by people who “have absolutely no regard for the sanctity of human life.” Echoing Brown, Lightfoot once again urged residents of neighborhoods that are “under siege” to cooperate with the police to “stem the tide on this violence.”

“The people in the neighborhoods who are doing the shooting, they are known to people in the neighborhoods,” Lightfoot said in an unrelated news conference. “I understand the fear that’s out there but I’m just calling upon people in these neighborhoods — particularly when we think about the number of children who have been shot — you’ve got to have your faith overcome your fear. You’ve got to step up.”

Lightfoot said her office will announce initiatives focused on gun violence “in the coming days” but did not disclose any details.

Chicago police investigate Saturday afternoon after a 12-year-old boy and 15-year-old girl were among three people shot outside a Citgo gas station at North Sacramento Boulevard and West Fulton Street in East Garfield Park. A back to school picnic was happening at the Citgo when the shooting occurred.Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times

Seven other children struck by gunfire

On Saturday, a 16-year-old boy showed up at Stroger Hospital with a gunshot wound, police said.
Two girls, 12 and 15, were among three wounded near a back-to-school event in East Garfield Park. Police said they recovered the car used in the shooting, but no one was in custody.
Saturday night, a 15-year-old boy was hit in a drive-by shooting in Englewood.
Another 13-year-old boy was seriously wounded in a South Chicago shooting. Police said the boy was in a basement with friends when someone shot through a window.
Sunday morning, a 14-year-old boy was shot while walking to a car with his father in Little Village.
A 17-year-old was among two teens shot in Washington Park.
Outside Comer Children’s Hospital Friday night, advocates try to console the father of a 4-year-old boy who was shot in Woodlawn.Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Other murder victims

A 25-year-old man was killed Monday afternoon in a shooting in Brainerd. He was shot in the head in the 9200 block of South Eggleston Avenue and taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he died.
A 50-year-old man was killed Monday morning while driving in West Garfield Park. He crashed his car after being shot several times in the 4200 block of West Washington Boulevard, police said.
In South Shore, a person was shot in the head while inside a car in the 7800 block of South Clyde Avenue, police said.
Hours earlier, Enrique Negrete, 23, was stopped at a traffic light in the 3700 block of South Kedzie Avenue when he was shot in the head following a brief conversation with the alleged shooter, who was traveling in another car, police said. Negrete died in the 5500 block of South Albany Avenue in Brighton Park, about two miles south of the shooting scene.
Another man was killed late Saturday in Lawndale. Officers found the 41-year-old lying between two parked cars in the 1600 block of South Central Park Avenue, police said. He was rushed to Mount Sinai Hospital with two gunshot wounds to the chest and was pronounced dead.

Aside from Negrete, none of the adult homicide victims has been identified.

Other shootings

A 34-year-old CTA bus driver was shot Saturday night on Washington Avenue near State Street, police said. Dennis Green, 38, was arrested and charged in the shooting.
Five people were wounded in Lawndale early Saturday when someone opened fire from a car at a gathering in the 1400 block of South Tripp Avenue, police said.

At least 46 others were wounded in weekend shootings.

Last weekend, at least six people were killed and 50 others wounded in citywide gun violence.

Contributing: Rachel Hinton and Tom Schuba

Crime scene tape blocks off a portion of the Lakefront Trail near the 800 block of North Lake Shore Drive, where a man was shot Monday evening in the Gold Coast.Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times

A man was shot in the leg early Monday outside a home in the 9900 block of South La Salle Street in Fernwood on the South Side.Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

A man reacts at the scene after a 22-year-old man was shot in the face early Monday in a backyard in the 9500 block of South Yale Avenue in Longwood Manor on the South Side.Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

At least 15 shell casings were recovered in the 2500 block of South Trumbull early Sunday after a 14-year-old boy was shot in Little Village on the Southwest Side.Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Passersby watch as Chicago police investigate after a CTA bus driver was shot Saturday night in the first block of East Washington Avenue in the Loop.Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Chicago police work the scene where a 13-year-old boy was shot in the head Saturday evening inside a home in the 8500 block of South Marquette Avenue in South Chicago.Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times

Five people were wounded in a mass shooting early Saturday in the 1400 block of South Tripp Avenue in Lawndale on the Southwest Side.Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Chicago police investigate after a 4-year-old boy was shot in the head when bullets tore through the window of a home in the 6500 block of South Ellis Avenue late Friday in Woodlawn on the South Side.Tyler LaRiviere/Sun-Times

Chicago police personnel chat outside Comer Children’s Hospital on the South Side after a 4-year-old boy was shot in the head Friday night in the 6500 block of South Ellis Avenue in Woodlawn.Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

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There’s no easy way to put this: Chicago Party Aunt, the world’s most aggressive lover of all things Windy, was not born here.

It was in Los Angeles, on a lonely night a few years ago, when the bawdy Bears booster emerged into the world.

Chris Witaske, the actor and writer who created her, had just moved West from Chicago. “I had a lot of free time on my hands,” he recalls, “and I was feeling homesick.”

So he started the @chipartyaunt account on Twitter and soon was sharing the hilarious thoughts of a fictional, foul-mouthed, hard-drinking, sex-positive woman in middle age who can’t let go of her rambunctious adventures in the ’80s and cherishes her hometown even more than a Portillo’s combo dipped in Malort.

“Excited to get back to a time when Saint Patrick’s day parades are canceled for the right reasons: public intoxication, underage drinking and street fighting,” she tweeted last spring. When news breaks, she comments on it. When @Chicago_Scanner reports some drunken behavior, she takes credit for it.

Former Chicago actor-writer Chris Witaske created Chicago Party Aunt when he was living in Los Angeles and feeling homesick.Rob Holysz

“It’s based on a couple of my actual aunts, my actual Chicago party aunts,” says Witaske, who grew up in St. Charles. “Also, I worked at Mike Ditka’s restaurant for five years out of college, so I saw a lot of party aunts come through that place.”

As the account grew to more than 50,000 followers and was retweeted by the likes of Stephen Colbert and Wilco, Witaske stayed anonymous, revealing his secret identity to just a few funny friends with enough Chicago history and savvy to contribute ideas of their own. Several of them — veterans, like Witaske, of iO and Second City stages — joined him in making the “Chicago Party Aunt” TV show, an animated, adults-only sitcom premiering Sept. 17 on Netflix.

One is former “Saturday Night Live” writer Katie Rich, who says hard-living relatives were “all across the board in my family and in my world” during her childhood near 80th and Pulaski.

The rowdy person in your life “might not be your aunt,” adds former North Sider Ike Barinholtz, the “Mindy Project” actor and producer who’s also working on the show. “It might be your uncle, it might be your cousin, it might be your neighbor, it might be you.”

The series gives the aunt a name — Diane Dunbrowski — and establishes that she’s been dumped by her husband, Kurt (voiced by Witaske), and will be roommate and mentor to Daniel (Broadway actor Rory O’Malley), her gay, anxious nephew.

Lauren Ash of “Superstore” provides the title character’s voice on “Chicago Party Aunt.”NBC

Providing Diane’s voice is Lauren Ash, the Ontario-born actor who just concluded a six-season run as high-strung Dina on NBC’s “Superstore.” During her two years in Chicago performing at Second City, she got to know the city’s dialect and was ready when her friend Witaske asked her to audition.

“I kinda said (turning on the Chicago accent), ‘What kinda level do we need to — like, how far are we goin’? Are we goin’ full Chicago Bears/’SNL’ territory?,’ “ Ash recalls. “So it was really just a conversation about what level we wanted her at — how cartoony, how character-y, that kinda thing. It was really fun to discover her voice.”

Barinholtz’s brother Jon, another of the show’s creators, worked with Ash on “Superstore” and calls her a “powerhouse.” Adds Witaske, “Even though she’s a Canadian, she nailed it.”

When it comes to hometown details, “Chicago Party Aunt” isn’t afraid to name names, setting scenes at Guthrie’s and Gibsons and noting Diane’s sexual history with Jim Belushi, Scottie Pippen and Sammy Sosa. But the humor will be relatable outside the city limits, says O’Malley, who grew up in Cleveland.

“Everyone in the Midwest loves their hometown,” he says, “and will be able to identify with Diane, a diehard sports fan and lover of her neighborhood. And her local bar.”

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Moon Alert

Avoid shopping or making important decisions from 2 to 10:30 p.m. Chicago time. After that, the moon moves from Virgo into Libra.

Aries (March 21-April 19)

Do what you can to get better organized, because this will make you feel good. Many of you will also extend these efforts into doing something to improve your health, as well. (What you want to do is feel that you’re on top of your game.)

Taurus (April 20-May 20)

More than most signs, you like your creature comforts. Do something that pleases you today, especially in terms of pleasure, food, fun outings, sports and playful activities with others, including children. Cater to your whims. Express your creative urges!

Gemini (May 21-June 20)

A discussion with a parent could be significant. Certainly, you have a strong focus on home and family now, for various reasons. In part, this could be because you are dealing with increased chaos and busy activity on the home front. (Good luck!)

Cancer (June 21-July 22)

The pace of your days has been accelerating because you’re busy. Appointments, short trips and increased time with siblings, relatives and neighbors are part of your busy schedule. However, you are unusually convincing now, and can use this to your advantage.

Leo (July 23-Aug. 22)

Pay attention to your cash flow, earnings and your assets right now because it’s good to get this straight in your mind. Figure out what you own and what you owe because when it comes to money and personal wealth, information is power. Get the whole picture.

Virgo (Aug. 23-Sept. 22)

Explore the possibility of getting more physical exercise because with both the sun and fiery Mars in your sign, you have energy to burn. In fact, if you don’t find a way to burn it off, it could “leak out” as grumpy complaints. Not good.

Libra (Sept. 23-Oct. 22)

Despite your desire to talk and schmooze with others, ideally, you will appreciate hiding in the wings because you need to catch your breath and take a rest. Save your strength and energy for when your birthday arrives. Then, you can par-tay!

Scorpio (Oct. 23-Nov. 21)

Despite the fact that you might feel competitive with someone right now, your interaction with a friend or a group is important to you. Why not use someone as a sounding board to bounce off your hopes and dreams for the future to get their feedback?

Sagittarius (Nov. 22-Dec. 21)

Go after what you want today because you look excellent in the eyes of others. However, don’t make important decisions during the moon alert. This favorable influence will still be there tomorrow and the next day. You rock!

Capricorn (Dec. 22-Jan. 19)

Because you want to learn something new and get a change of scenery, do something different today! Talk to people from other backgrounds. Visit places you’ve never been to before. Do whatever you can to expand your horizons and feel excited about life.

Aquarius (Jan. 20-Feb. 18)

Because you have a stronger than average focus on shared property, taxes, debt and inheritances at this time, do be aware of the restrictions of the moon alert. Disputes in these areas might also arise. Fortunately, you are often the peacemaker.

Pisces (Feb. 19-March 20)

Remember to get more sleep while the sun is opposite your sign. You will also need to be more patient with partners and close friends because fiery Mars will make it so easy to be irritated with someone. (Perhaps they are irritating.) Nevertheless, stay chill for your own peace of mind and the peace of mind of others.

If Your Birthday Is Today

Actress Evan Rachel Wood (1987) shares your birthday. You are sensitive to your surroundings and extremely observant. You are capable, organized, hard-working and competent in whatever you do. In fact, at times you’re a perfectionist. You are an independent thinker with strong personal values. This year you have more zest for life! You will enjoy socializing with others and having fun. You might be more in the public eye.

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A 38-year-old man was charged Monday with shooting and seriously wounding a CTA bus driver in the Loop over the Labor Day weekend.

Dennis Green, 38, has been charged with attempted murder, aggravated battery to a transit employee, armed habitual criminal and possession of a firearm with a defaced serial number, Chicago police said in a news release.

Dennis Green

Shortly before 9 p.m. Saturday, Green shot the driver in the jaw during an attack in the first block of East Washington Avenue, police said. The driver, a 34-year-old man, was rushed to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in serious condition.

Green was arrested minutes later in the first block of East Jackson Boulevard, police said, and a weapon was recovered.

In a statement this weekend, the CTA decried the attack.

“An assault on any CTA bus or rail operator – public servants who have courageously kept the City moving throughout the pandemic – is unacceptable and completely unwarranted,” the statement said.

Green is expected to appear in bond court Tuesday.

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Six people were killed and at least 56 others wounded, including eight children, in shootings across Chicago over Labor Day weekend.

The youngest homicide victim was a 4-year-old boy who was shot while he was getting a haircut in a home in Woodlawn Friday night.

Mychal Moultry Jr., who was visiting from Alabama, was struck twice in the head about 9 p.m. when bullets tore through the window of a home in the 6500 block of South Ellis Avenue, Chicago police said.

The boy’s father held him until paramedics arrived, community activist Andrew Holmes said. Mychal died Sunday. He was the second 4-year-old shot in Chicago in a week, and the second 4-year-old killed in the city this year.

Chicago Police Supt. David Brown Monday pleaded with the community to help detectives after Mychal and seven other children were shot over the weekend.

“We need people in the community to come forward. This is beyond trusting police. This is about the safety of our babies,” Brown told reporters, noting that children are almost always the unintended victims of shootings.

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the weekend’s violence was driven by people who “have absolutely no regard for the sanctity of human life.” Echoing Brown, Lightfoot once again urged residents of neighborhoods that are “under siege” to cooperate with the police to “stem the tide on this violence.”

“The people in the neighborhoods who are doing the shooting, they are known to people in the neighborhoods,” Lightfoot said in an unrelated news conference. “I understand the fear that’s out there but I’m just calling upon people in these neighborhoods — particularly when we think about the number of children who have been shot — you’ve got to have your faith overcome your fear. You’ve got to step up.”

Lightfoot said the focus has to be on gangs, adding that her office will reveal initiatives focused on gun violence “in the coming days” without disclosing any details.

Other kids struck by gunfire

In addition to Mychal, seven other juveniles were shot between 5 p.m. Friday and Monday night.

On Saturday, a 16-year-old boy showed up at Stroger Hospital with a gunshot wound, police said. Two girls, ages 12 and 15, were then among three wounded near a back-to-school event in East Garfield Park. Police said they recovered the car used in the shooting, but no one was in custody.

Saturday night, a 15-year-old boy was shot in a drive-by in Englewood, and a 13-year-old boy was seriously wounded in a South Chicago shooting. Police said the 13-year-old was in a basement with friends when someone shot through a window.

Sunday morning, a 14-year-old boy was shot while walking to a car with his father in Little Village, and a 17-year-old was among two teens shot in Washington Park.

Outside Comer Children’s Hospital Friday night, advocates try to console the father of a 4-year-old boy who was shot in Woodlawn.Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Fatal shootings

A 25-year-old was was killed Monday afternoon in a shooting in Brainerd. He was shot in the head in the 9200 block of South Eggleston Avenue and taken to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where he died.

A 50-year-old man was killed Monday morning while driving in West Garfield Park. After being shot several times in the 4200 block of West Washington Boulevard, he crashed his car and died, police said.

A male was killed Sunday afternoon in South Shore when he was shot in the head while he was inside of a vehicle in the 7800 block of South Clyde Avenue, police said.

Hours earlier, Enrique Negrete, 23, was stopped at a traffic light in the 3700 block of South Kedzie Avenue when he was shot in the head following a brief conversation with the alleged shooter, who was traveling in another vehicle, police said. Negrete died in the 5500 block of South Albany Avenue in Brighton Park, about two miles south of the shooting scene.

Another man was killed late Saturday in Lawndale. Officers found the 41-year-old lying between two parked cars in the 1600 block of South Central Park Avenue, police said. He was rushed to Mount Sinai Hospital with two gunshot wounds to the chest and was later pronounced dead.

Aside from Negrete, none of the adult homicide victims had been identified.

Other shootings

Meanwhile, a 34-year-old CTA bus driver was shot Saturday night in the Loop when he was attacked on Washington Avenue near State Street, police said. Dennis Green, 38, was arrested and charged in the shooting.

Five people were also wounded in Lawndale early Saturday when someone opened fire from a car while the victims were at a gathering in the 1400 block of South Tripp Avenue, police said.

At least 41 others were wounded in weekend shootings.

Last weekend, at least six people were killed and 50 others wounded in citywide gun violence.

Contributing: Rachel Hinton and Tom Schuba

Chicago police investigate early Saturday in the 1400 block of South Tripp Avenue, where five people were shot and wounded in a mass shooting in Lawndale on the Southwest Side.Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

Shell casings sits in the street Saturday night in the 7000 block of South Sangamon, where a 15-year-old boy was wounded in a drive-by shooting in Englewood on the South Side.Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

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If a quarterback controversy ensues at Halas Hall, Matt Nagy is ready for it.

The Bears coach has been criticized for using a faulty template and questionable logic in handing the starting job to veteran Andy Dalton and giving rookie Justin Fields no chance to win it. But he has managed the quarterback issue artfully in public. Nagy has never flinched in response to dozens of questions about Fields, Dalton, The Plan and the possibility of a quarterback change.

His decisions on the quarterback situation are debatable. But his tone has been exemplary even if his explanations have at times been more circular than succinct. He’s been understanding and reasonable instead of defensive or antagonistic. He gets it. It’s as if he knows that despite the heat and grief he’s getting now, in the end Justin Fields will be his quarterback.

But now, as they say, the stuff gets real.

The regular season is a brand new ballgame for Nagy in managing the Dalton-Fields situation. If Dalton doesn’t perform at an acceptable level — the bar figures to be set fairly high — the call for Fields not only will be louder and clearer than ever, but based on actual on-field results and not just a coaching philosophy or previous template.

And to his credit, Nagy gets that as well. He sounded well-prepared for it Monday — even tacitly acknowledging that a Plan B has been discussed among the coaching staff and general manager Ryan Pace at Halas Hall.

“We all understand the passion and excitement that we want to see from Justin,” Nagy said. “The biggest thing is for myself, our coaching staff, Ryan, everybody included — when we get together and talk about what our plan looks like and we play out scenarios.”

Nagy has yet to shed any light on what the standard is for Dalton to keep the job — and publicly setting the bar is unfair to Dalton, who deserves every chance to succeed. But there is a bar, and Dalton and the offense will have to meet it.

It’s almost a fait accompli that a quarterback controversy — or at least a cry for Fields — will develop. Dalton’s passer rating is 84.1 over the last three seasons. It’s unlikely that in an unproven offense, he’ll suddenly play at a level that will stave off a call for Fields.

Nagy isn’t going to let public pressure force his hand, but it doesn’t sound like he’ll ignore reality either. Even if the Bears are winning, if Dalton is not why their winning, a decision will have to be made.

“Sometimes you can get caught up in emotional decisions, and that’s where I have to be really strong and understand the way. If you just keep it super simple and don’t overthink it … as to why things are the way they are, then it will take care of itself.

“So I do understand all that. I think all of our players, if we’re being completely honest — I think everybody understands that part of where we’re it. We’ve got to understand that why behind it all.”

Nagy could help fuel a quarterback debate inadvertently (or advertently) by using Fields in a special package designed especially for him — similar to what Saints coach Sean Payton does with Taysom Hill. It comes with some risk — Mitch Trubisky suffered a shoulder injury on his only play in that situation against the Saints last year, when Nick Foles was starting. But Nagy indicated he would roll the dice with Fields — whenever that happens.

“Theres’s always risk,” Nagy said, “but it is football, and we want to make sure that whatever we’re doing with whatever players, we understand that comes with the territory.”

It could happen as early as Sunday night, with Nagy perhaps eager to show the world he can be as inventive as Rams coach Sean McVay. And if it accelerates a Dalton-Fields controversy, so be it. Matt Nagy will gladly deal with it.

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