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After learning from his first handful of big league starts, Cubs starter Justin Steele took a step forward in his last start against the Twins. Steele featured his full repertoire and earned his first win as a starter in Minnesota.

Coming off his best performance as a starter against the Twins, Steele picked up right where he left in Monday’s 4-3 win over the Reds. It was Steele’s second time facing Cincinnati as a starter and he didn’t look fazed early.

“Similar to Minnesota, I had a command of my two-seam and four-seam [fastball] for the most part of the first five innings,” Steele said. “Felt really good with my curveball, really good with my slider. Felt good with my changeup today too. I didn’t throw any in the game, but warming up in the bullpen, I felt like I had a lot of command over my changeup.”

When Steele is at his best, he’s able to get both swings-and-misses with his four-seam fastball and breaking balls, but also able to mix his sinker to get weak contact. The Cubs’ southpaw did both in his outing against Cincinnati, getting his first 12 outs of the game on either a strikeout or a ground ball.

He induced nine groundouts in the game as he used his sinker heavily and was able to avoid loud contact.

“Overall, it was a tremendous outing for him,” interim manager Andy Green said after the win. Cruised through the first five [and] faced maybe one batter pass the minimum at that point in time.”

But he showed something for the first time as a starter in his start against the Reds. While the stuff was crisp, it was his efficiency that stood out. Being able to get soft contact early in counts over his first few innings allowed him to conserve his pitch count and pitch into the sixth inning for the first time this season.

Even after taking a sharp line drive off the left triceps in the third inning, he continued to keep his rhythm. But after five strong innings, which saw him command all of his pitches, Steele ran into trouble in the sixth and quickly lost command of the strike zone.

He walked the first batter of the inning before a Nick Castellanos double put runners on second and third with no outs. He’d plunk the next two batters to bring in a run and make it a 3-1 game before Green went to the bullpen.

“I think I was just kind of forcing some things in that last inning,” Steele said. “Nothing that I can’t fix. Just go back to the drawing board, make some adjustments and just go from there.”

The Reds would tie the game at 3 later in the inning, closing the book on Steele’s afternoon. He allowed three earned runs on four hits over his five-plus innings in the game. He walked two batters, struck out four and two hit batters.

“I think it was 64 pitches through five innings. [He was] carving people up. Went out there in the sixth and it just wasn’t as clean. It was his first time towing the rubber in a big league game in the sixth inning and it starts to catch up to some guys sometimes.

“But the beauty of that is it’s a tremendous learning experience for him and he pitched efficiently enough to get to that sixth inning with hardly being taxed other than taking that line drive [off the arm].”

Steele has followed up a rough August with two promising starts in September. Going into his final starts of the season, Steele wants to keep building on the two steps forward.

“At some point in my career, I think it’d be really cool to [throw] a complete game,” he said. “So I mean, that’s where my head’s at. I want to go deeper into games. I want to be that starting pitcher that everybody can rely on every time I take the mound. They can expect consistency. I want to be known for my consistency.”

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The Bears made it through the pre-season with resounding success!

That is, they got to the regular season with all three quarterbacks — Andy Dalton, Justin Fields, and Nick Foles — intact and ready for action.

And here’s a guess: all three of them will play sometime between now and into the possible playoffs in January. Yep, even Foles.

Here’s an axiom. NFL players get hurt. Like, always. Sometimes positions get so diminished teams have to activate players from practice squads to fill in.

If you’re a Bears observer, you might recall the big hopes created by quarterback Jim McMahon, who was able to limp through one Super Bowl championship season, 1985, but faded as a team leader because he could never stay healthy. McMahon never started more than 12 games in a season in his 14-year career, and seven times started six or fewer.

The Bears’ problem back then was they didn’t plan ahead and never had a quality backup for McMahon.

Whatever you may think of current Bears third-stringer Foles’ and his abilities, remember he led the Eagles to the 2017 Super Bowl championship and was named MVP of the game after passing for 373 yards and three touchdowns. How did he get there? Starting Eagles quarterback Carson Wentz tore the ACL and LCL in his left knee in Game 13 of that season.

Injuries happen. Indeed, they’re guaranteed in football. Last year, according to Sportico.com which analyzed NFL stats, there were 801 injuries in games, the most ever for a season.

The longer you can keep your best players healthy (or have very good backups when they do go down), the better you’ll do. It’s a rule that from the first snap onward, some player on every team is wincing in pain.

The lucky and the clever and the prepared fare the best. Forty-three-year old Tom Brady started every regular and post-season game for the Buccaneers last season — all 20 of them — and the Bucs rode him to the Super Bowl crown.

The odds of a man in his fifth decade on earth playing an entire NFL season and avoiding injury is pretty low. And as the truth now has it, Brady was indeed hurt — maybe the entire year, perhaps since leaving the Patriots in 2019 — with a torn MCL. But he played hurt, with a brace, and because he’s slower than a mud turtle anyway, his lack of speed was no factor. So it worked.

But if you play hurt, and don’t tell anybody — and you play badly because of it — you’re not of much use to your team.

With 17 games this season for the first time, the difference for a player being hurt or being injured (one of those great coaching distinctions) will be a test for every man. Carson Wentz, by the way, never really got his mojo back after 2017. He kept getting hurt, lost his job to rookie Jalen Hurts in 2020 and was traded to the Colts in the offseason.

The Bears have six players who are 30 or older, and that’s a concern. Offensive lineman Jason Peters is 39, has started 203 regular-season games in 18 years, and — quite frankly — I hope the guy can get out of bed when he’s 60.

Lots of Bears have gotten injured already in the preseason, though they have healed and come back. But veteran linebacker Danny Trevathan and lineman Teven Jenkins are both already on the injured reserve list. Jenkins shows that age isn’t the only thing to worry about– the guy is just 23.

And then there are a number of players who, at least for the opener against the Rams on Sunday, are covered by that wonderfully vague term, ”Questionable.” This includes Robert Quinn, Bilal Nichols, Alex Bars, and Deon Bush, important players all.

If you think you know your team and how it’s going to do, just think of the star players from other teams who didn’t make through the pre-season to Game 1 this year, like Jets pass rusher Carl Lawson or Jaguars No. 1 draft pick, running back Travis Etienne.

Devastating preseason injuries in the past have taken out terrific players such as Michael Vick, Ki-Jana Carter, Donnie Avery, and the worst ever — by far — Darryl Stingley, paralyzed by a hit from Jack Tatum.

The Bears have their quarterbacks lined up and healthy.

That in itself is a decent start to the season.

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When the Cubs have needed a big hit over the last month, Frank Schwindel has been at the plate and with the game on the line in Monday’s 4-3 win, the Cubs’ first baseman came through once again.

The Cubs and Reds were tied at 3 going into the bottom of the eighth inning and after pinch-hitter Alfonso Rivas started the inning with a 10-pitch at-bat that resulted in a single and moved to second on a wild pitch, Schwindel came to the plate.

“I was borderline giddy in the dugout thinking, ‘It can’t happen again, can it?’, interim manager Andy Green said after the game. “We were laughing over there just by the sheer fact that he was up with the opportunity to do something special again. And thankfully, he controls his emotions better than me and [associate pitching coach] Mike Borzello do, because we were just laughing that it keeps happening right now.”

With cheers of “Frank The Tank” raining down from the fans at Wrigley, Schwindel poked a single through the right side of the infield to score Rivas from second base, giving the Cubs a 4-3 lead. It was the fourth straight game with a game-winning hit for Schwindel, who also had another multi-hit game.

The game-winning single extended the Cubs’ winning streak to an MLB-leading and season-high seven games.

Bote activated from 10-day injured list

The Cubs activated infielder David Bote from the 10-day injured list before Monday’s game against the Reds. Bote had been on the injured list since Aug. 28 with a sprained right ankle, he suffered stepping on a baseball.

Bote’s activation from the injured list came about an hour before first pitch after going through a full pregame routine, including taking batting practice, running the bases and taking ground balls on the infield.

Bote’s slashing .202/.270/.339 with eight homers and 32 RBIs in 78 games this season.

To make room for Bote on the active roster, the Cubs designated infielder Andrew Romine for assignment.

Infielder Nico Hoerner went through a full pregame routine of baseball activities with Bote and also took batting practice, ground balls ran the bases before the game. Hoerner has been on the IL since July 29 with a right oblique strain.

“They’re moving forward,” interim manager Andy Green said before the game. “David closer than Nico. I believe Nico was scheduled to take some BP on the field today. I haven’t gotten a report on how that went, hopefully it went very well.”

Wicks makes minor-league starting debut

Cubs’ 2021 first-round pick Jordan Wicks made his professional debut on Sunday for High-A South Bend. Wicks, 22, tossed a scoreless inning, striking out one batter in the game. The Cubs drafted Wicks out of Kansas State University with the 21st overall pick in July.

The Cubs’ southpaw had been pitching at the team’s complex in Arizona since the draft, but will spend the final weeks of the season in South Bend.

“Every time you go to a new level, you get excited competing against new guys,” Wicks said in July. “Just the newness and the excitement of it and I’m excited for the new experiences to learn along the way.”

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There’s good reason MLB managers are quicker to the hook when starting pitchers are facing opposing hitters for the third time. But the White Sox’ Carlos Rodon has been an exception, as successful the third time through the order as the first two.

Despite arm fatigue that will force him to miss a start and five-inning starts his last two times out, Rodon has allowed only a .547 OPS his third time through the order. That’s far below the overall MLB OPS of .725.

It also fits in nicely with Rodon’s OPS allowed of .557 the first time around and .611 the second. That’s stingy enough to lead to his 2.41 earned-run average that leads Sox starters. At 119-2/3 innings, he’s 17-1/3 innings shy of the inning-per-team-game standard to qualify for the ERA leaders. But Rodon’s ERA is lower than the AL-leading 2.60 by the Blue Jays’ Robbie Ray.

The low OPS the third time through is well outside MLB norms. So far in 2021, starting pitchers have yielded a .703 OPS the first time through, .744 the second time around and .777 the third time.

That’s a pattern of long standing. In the expansion era that started in 1961, OPSes always have been higher when facing a lineup the third time vs. the first time around.

Only three times in 61 seasons has the OPS been higher the second time than the third: In 1974 (.679 first time, then .696, .694); 1989 (.685, .713, .709); and 2020’s 60-game anomaly (.717, .765, .753). Those came in 1974, when a first-time .679 OPS jumped to .696 the second time then tailed off slightly

The normal pattern is an increase in OPS each time through the order.

Rodon isn’t the only Sox starter outside the pattern in 2021. For Lucas Giolito (.662, .746, .618), Lance Lynn (.420, .733, .722) and Dylan Cease (.632, .723, .635), the second time through has been the danger zone. Dallas Keuchel (.777, .798, .855) shows the big third-time jump.

The Cubs’ Kyle Hendricks (.902, .654, .920) has struggled at the start, taken command in the middle then needed help the third time. The second time has been a problem for Adbert Alzolay (.652, .887, .781), while Alec Mills (.604, .751, 1.018) and Zach Davies (.725, .796, 1.158) have third-time blues.

For MLB, the third-time effect has increased in the 2000s. The difference between the first and third time OPSes was 53 points in the decade starting in 1961, 37 starting in ’71, 47 starting in ’81, 56 starting in ’91, 64 starting in 2001 and 63 starting in ’11.

Among possible reasons is that starters today deal with pitch counts. Managers have bullpens deeper in hard throwers. The combo leads to shorter starts and starters don’t worry so much about hitting a fatigue point earlier than starters of yore.

Regardless of reason, there’s a wide gap. You can’t blame a manager for casting a wary eye when his starter sees the top of the lineup for the third time.

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PARIS — Jean-Paul Belmondo, star of the iconic French New Wave film “Breathless,” whose crooked boxer’s nose and rakish grin went on to make him one of the country’s most recognizable leading men, has died. He was 88.

His death was confirmed Monday by the office of his lawyer, Michel Godest. No cause of death was given.

Belmondo’s career spanned a half-century. Belmondo, who embodied in the 1960s a new type of male star characterized by pure virility rather than their classic good looks, went on to appear in more than 80 films and worked with a variety of major French directors, from Francois Truffaut to Claude Lelouch.

His career choices were equally varied, from acclaimed art house films to critically lukewarm action and comedy films later on in his career.

His unconventional looks — flattened nose, full lips and muscular frame — allowed him to play roles from thug to police officer, thief to priest, Cyrano de Bergerac to an unshakable secret agent. Belmondo was also a gifted athlete who often did his own stunts.

French President Emmanuel Macron called the actor a “national treasure” in an homage on Twitter and Instagram recalling his panache, his laughter and versatility. He was at once a “sublime hero” and “a familiar figure,” Macron wrote. “In him, we all recognize ourselves.”

France bounded into Belmondo mode at news of his death with politicians of all stripes praising him as the media put the actor everyone seemed to love at center-stage. Old movie clips caught the athletic Belmondo in heart-stopping acrobatics he was known to love, from sliding down a rooftop to climbing up a rope ladder from a moving convertible.

Belmondo was born on April 9, 1933, in the Paris suburb of Neuilly-sur-Seine into an artistic family. His father was renowned sculptor Paul Belmondo and his mother, Sarah Rainaud-Richard, was a painter.

Belmondo played soccer and trained as a boxer before quitting school at age 16. He took up acting in the 1950s at the Paris Conservatory, where one of his teachers, Pierre Dux, famously told him that his career as a leading man was doomed because of his looks. People would burst into laughter if they saw an actress in Belmondo’s arms, Dux said, according to biographer Bertrand Tessier.

French theater critic Jean-Jacques Gautier wasn’t impressed either, once saying: “Mr. Belmondo will never enjoy success with his ruffian’s mug.”

At his final conservatory competition, the jury failed to give him the recognition he thought he deserved — so he gave the judges an obscene parting gesture.

The star began acting in small provincial theaters and caught the eye of aspiring filmmaker Godard in Paris in 1958, who asked him to appear in a short film. At first, Belmondo didn’t take Godard seriously.

“I spoke to my wife about it, and she said, ‘Go ahead. If (Godard) hassles you, punch him,'” Belmondo told the Liberation newspaper in 1999.

Belmondo was given his first important role by director Claude Sautet in “Classe tous risques” (Consider All Risks) in which he starred alongside Lino Ventura in 1960. The same year, Godard called Belmondo back to appear in “Breathless” — which became one of the breakthrough films of the French New Wave. The movement, which included Truffaut, grouped filmmakers of the late 1950s and 1960s who abandoned traditional narrative techniques and were known for their mood of youthful iconoclasm.

Belmondo played opposite American actress Jean Seberg, who appeared as the street-smart aspiring reporter who, in the film’s key moment, sold the International Herald Tribune on the Champs-Elysees in Paris.

Belmondo sometimes said he acted in Godard’s first film and would act in his last. But he didn’t link his name exclusively with one director and worked with most of France’s top filmmakers — and many of Europe’s most well-known actresses, including Jeanne Moreau and Sophia Loren.

Following the huge success of “Breathless,” Belmondo showed the vast array of his talent and his versatility in dramas (“Leon Morin, pretre”), arthouse movies (“Moderato Cantabile”) and blockbusters (“Cartouche”).

In “Un Singe en hiver,” a French classic directed by Henri Verneuil in 1962, Belmondo impressed the legendary Jean Gabin.

“You won’t tell me anymore: ‘If only I had a young Gabin.’ You have him!” Gabin told the director of Belmondo.

In Truffaut’s 1969 “Mississippi Mermaid,” Belmondo played a tobacco farmer and starred opposite Catherine Deneuve. Belmondo and Danish-born Anna Karina played a couple on the run in Godard’s 1965 “Pierrot le Fou.” Belmondo also won a Cesar — the French equivalent of an Oscar — for his role in Lelouch’s 1988 film “Itinerary of a Spoiled Child,” his final big success.

During the second half of his career, Belmondo opted for high-paying roles in commercially successful action films. He played a tough detective in “Cop or Hooligan,” and a World War II ace in “Champion of Champions.”

In the 1980s Belmondo returned to the stage, his first love, and won back the doubting critics. His comeback role was in a 1987 Paris production of “Kean,” about an actor famous for his uncontrollable temper and genius.

Belmondo, who had recovered from a stroke in 2001, is survived by three children, Florence, Paul, and Stella Eva Angelina. Another daughter, Patricia, died in 1994.

Funeral arrangements weren’t immediately known.

___

Elaine Ganley contributed to this report.

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Five people have been killed and 53 others, including eight children, have been wounded in shootings across Chicago since Friday evening.

The youngest homicide victim was a 4-year-old boy shot Friday in Woodlawn on the South Side.

Mychal Moultry, who was visiting from Alabama, was getting a haircut inside his home around 9 p.m. in the 6500 block of South Ellis Avenue when bullets tore through the front window, Chicago police said.

The boy’s father held him until paramedics arrived, community activist Andrew Holmes said. The child was pronounced dead Sunday.

Mychal was the second 4-year-old shot in Chicago in a week, and the second 4-year-old killed in the city this year.

Police Superintendent David Brown on Monday pleaded with the community to help detectives after seven other children 17 years old and younger were wounded in shooting over the weekend.

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

Brown said the children were almost always the unintended victims of the shootings. He said the shooters are usually targeting someone else, whether it be a stranger or possibly a relative during a family gathering.

“Stay away from these children,” Brown said. “You’re harming these communities.”

Mayor Lori Lightfoot said the weekend’s violence was driven by people who “have absolutely no regard for the sanctity of human life” and said her office will reveal some initiatives in the coming days.

The mayor once again called on residents in neighborhoods that are “under siege” to cooperate with the police to “really 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 in the city’s neighborhoods and added that her office will reveal initiatives “in the coming days” focused on gun violence but did not provide more details on those plans.

Seven other children wounded in gun violence

Seven other juveniles had been shot between 5 p.m. Friday and Monday morning.

On Saturday, a 16-year-old boy with a gunshot wound showed up at Stroger Hospital, police said. Later that day, three people, including a 12-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl, were wounded in a shooting 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 on the South Side, and 13-year-old boy was seriously wounded in a shooting in South Chicago. Police said the 13-year-old was in a basement with friends when someone shot in through a window.

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

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

Bus driver shot

A CTA bus driver was shot in the Loop about 9 p.m Saturday. The 34-year-old driver was attacked and then shot in the jaw on Washington Avenue near State Street, police said. A person was arrested but no charges have been filed.

Mass shooting in Lawndale

Five people were wounded in a Saturday morning attack in Lawndale. The five were among a group of people about 12:15 a.m. in the 1400 block of South Tripp Avenue when someone inside a black Nissan opened fire, police said. Three women and two men, all between 22 and 37 years old, were taken to hospitals in good or fair condition.

Homicides

— A 50-year-old man was killed Monday morning in the West Garfield Park neighborhood. He was shot in a car around 6:20 a.m. in the 4200 block of West Washington Boulevard, Chicago police said. He was struck several times in his body, arm, head and mouth, and crashed his car into a fixed object. The man died at the scene. He hasn’t been identified.

— A person was killed Sunday afternoon in South Shore. A male was inside of a vehicle about 2:45 p.m. in the 7800 block of South Clyde Avenue when he suffered a gunshot wound to his head, police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene. His name and age haven’t been released.

— Hours earlier, a man was shot and killed Sunday morning in Brighton Park. The 23-year-old was shot around 5:30 a.m. in the 3700 block of South Kedzie Avenue after someone in another car spoke with him while they were stopped in traffic, police said. The person opened fire and struck him in the head. His vehicle went southbound after the light turned green, police said, then stopped in the 5500 block of South Albany Avenue. That’s where the man was pronounced dead.

— Saturday night, a man was shot and killed in Lawndale on the West Side. Officers responded to calls of a person shot about 11:50 p.m. in the 1600 block of South Central Park Avenue and found a 41-year-old man lying between two parked cars with two gunshot wounds to the chest, police said. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital where he was later died. Police initially said the shooting happened in the 1600 block of North Central Park.

At least 40 other people were wounded in shootings over the holiday weekend.

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

Contributing: Rachel Hinton

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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The Cubs activated infielder David Bote from the 10-day injured list before Monday’s game against the Reds. Bote had been on the injured list since Aug. 28 with a sprained right ankle, he suffered stepping on a baseball.

Bote’s activation from the injured list came about an hour before first pitch after going through a full pregame routine, including taking batting practice, running the bases and taking ground balls on the infield.

Bote’s slashing .202/.270/.339 with eight homers an 32 RBIs in 78 games this season.

To make room for Bote on the active roster, the Cubs designated infielder Andrew Romine for assignment.

Infielder Nico Hoerner went through a full pregame routine of baseball activities with Bote and also took batting practice, ground balls ran the bases before the game. Hoerner has been on the IL since July 29 with a right oblique strain.

“They’re moving forward,” interim manager Andy Green said before the game. “David closer than Nico. I believe Nico was scheduled to take some BP on the field today. I haven’t gotten a report on how that went, hopefully went very well.”

Wicks makes minor-league starting debut

Cubs’ 2021 first-round pick Jordan Wicks made his professional debut on Sunday for High-A South Bend. Wicks, 22, tossed a scoreless inning, striking out one batter in the game. The Cubs drafted Wicks out of Kansas State University with the 21st overall pick in July.

The Cubs’ southpaw had been pitching at the team’s complex in Arizona since the draft, but will spend the final weeks of the season in South Bend.

“Every time you go to a new level, you get excited competing against new guys,” Wicks said in July. “Just the newness and the excitement of it and I’m excited for the new experiences to learn along the way.

“I’m excited to do it with such a world class organization – an organization with so much history. and to be able to get out there and to compete at a new level, compete against new players and to have this as your job is a childhood dream.”

He said it

Green on Cubs’ COVID-19 scare: “We’re hopeful, cautiously optimistic at this point, but we’re still hopeful. We have the three-to-five day window. Still right in kind of the prime of it when someone could potentially test positive as far as I know. This day, every one of the guys who have come in including myself and tested negative. So we haven’t seen it spread and I think if we clear tomorrow, that’s approaching the end of our testing window that would come back to us on Wednesday morning, the last day before the off day and if we’re clear all the way through there, we’ll continue to be as cautiously optimistic as all of us can be in a COVID world that we live in right now.”

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A 4-year-old boy who was visiting Chicago has died two days after gunfire entered the Woodlawn home where he was getting a haircut.

Mychal Moultry Jr. was struck twice in his head as gunfire tore through the front window 9 p.m. Friday in the 6500 block of South Ellis Avenue, according to Chicago police.

He died Sunday evening at Comer Children’s Hospital, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

The child, who loved the movie “Cars,” was visiting from Alabama, the boy’s father told WGN9.

“Every parent loves him,” Mychal Moultry Sr. told the station. “Everyone would want a kid just like him.” Mychal loved softball and trips to the beach.

The boy’s father held him until paramedics arrived at the scene of the shooting, community activist Andrew Holmes said.

Outside the home, shell casings littered the front yard of a three-story apartment building that had a shattered front window.

The boy’s mother, a 34-year-old woman, was taken to a hospital for lacerations related to the shooting, according to the Chicago Fire Department.

Police reported no arrests.

Deputy Chief of Detectives Rahman Muhammad told reporters Monday that the child was getting his haircut when bullets entered the home. Detectives were searching for video and witnesses, he said.

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

Mychal is the second 4-year-old to die from gun violence in Chicago this year. Makalah McKay was accidentally shot by another child who found a gun Aug. 5 in the 6400 block of South Carpenter Street in Englewood.

The child was also the second 4-year-old to be wounded in gun violence in Chicago this week.

On Tuesday, a 4-year-old girl was shot and wounded while she combed a doll’s hair on the stoop of her home in Englewood. Police said she was caught in the crossfire of gunmen in two cars.

In June, a 4-year-old boy was wounded in an accidental shooting on the same block where Friday’s shooting occurred. Police said the child was hit in the hand and a 17-year-old boy was shot in the foot June 21. A 15-year-old boy seen leaving the home was arrested and charged with unauthorized use of a weapon.

Read more on crime, and track the city’s homicides.

Chicago police outside Comer Children’s Hospital, where a 4-year-old boy was taken in critical condition Friday night after being shot in Woodlawn.Ashlee Rezin/Sun-Times

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Five people have been killed and 53 others, including eight children, have been wounded in shootings across Chicago since Friday evening.

The youngest homicide victim was a 4-year-old boy shot Friday in Woodlawn on the South Side.

Mychal Moultry was getting a haircut inside his home around 9 p.m. in the 6500 block of South Ellis Avenue when bullets tore through the front window, Chicago police said.

The boy’s father held him until paramedics arrived, community activist Andrew Holmes said. The child was pronounced dead Sunday.

Detectives were searching for video and witnesses of the shooting.

Police Superintendent David Brown on Monday pleaded with the community to help detectives after seven other children 17 years old and younger were wounded in shooting over the weekend.

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

Brown said the children were almost always the unintended victims of the shootings. He said the shooters are usually targeting someone else, whether it be a stranger or possibly a relative during a family gathering.

“Stay away from these children,” Brown said. “You’re harming these communities.”

Seven other children wounded in gun violence

Seven other juveniles had been shot between 5 p.m. Friday and Monday morning.

On Saturday, a 16-year-old boy with a gunshot wound showed up at Stroger Hospital, Chicago police said. Later that day, three people, including a 12-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl, were wounded in a shooting near a back-to-school event in East Garfield Park. Police said they recovered the car used in the shooting but still had no arrest.

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

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

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

Bus driver shot

A CTA bus driver was shot in the Loop about 9 p.m Saturday. The 34-year-old driver was attacked and then shot in the jaw on Washington Avenue near State Street, police said. A person was arrested but not charges have been filed.

South Loop shooting

A driver was shot and crashed into a light post Saturday night in the South Loop. The man, 28, was shot in his foot while driving around 11:45 p.m. in the 500 block of South Wabash Avenue, police said. He was hospitalized in good condition. Police said the gunman fired shots from inside a white vehicle.

Mass shooting in Lawndale

In nonfatal attacks, five people were shot and wounded in a single incident Saturday morning in Lawndale. The five were among a group of people about 12:15 a.m. in the 1400 block of South Tripp Avenue when someone inside a black Nissan opened fire, police said.

Three women and two men, all between 22 and 37 years old, were taken to hospitals in good or fair condition, police said.

Homicides

Four other people have been killed in weekend gun violence.

— A 50-year-old man was killed Monday morning in the West Garfield Park neighborhood. He was shot in a car around 6:20 a.m. in the 4200 block of West Washington Boulevard, Chicago police said. He was struck several times in his body, arm, head and mouth, and crashed his car into a fixed object. The man died at the scene. He hasn’t been identified.

— A person was killed Sunday afternoon in South Shore. A male was inside of a vehicle about 2:45 p.m. in the 7800 block of South Clyde Avenue when he suffered a gunshot wound to his head, police said. He was pronounced dead at the scene. His name and age haven’t been released.

— Hours earlier, a man was shot and killed Sunday morning in Brighton Park. The 23-year-old was shot around 5:30 a.m. in the 3700 block of South Kedzie Avenue after someone in another car spoke with him while they were stopped in traffic, police said. The person opened fire and struck him in the head. His vehicle went southbound after the light turned green, police said, then stopped in the 5500 block of South Albany Avenue. That’s where the man was pronounced dead.

— Saturday night, a man was shot and killed in Lawndale on the West Side. Officers responded to calls of a person shot about 11:50 p.m. in the 1600 block of South Central Park Avenue and found a 41-year-old man lying between two parked cars with two gunshot wounds to the chest, police said. He was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital where he was later died. Police initially said the shooting happened in the 1600 block of North Central Park.

At least 40 other people were wounded in shootings over the holiday weekend.

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

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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