McCarthy responds to father of boy, 7, fatally shot on July 4

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Chicago police are on the hunt for the person who shot and killed a 7-year-old boy on the Fourth of July.

Amari Brown was fatally shot in the chest shortly before midnight on Saturday, just weeks before he was to start second grade.

Family and friends gathered in the city's Humboldt Park neighborhood Monday night to remember Amari and rally for peace. Some people in that crowd were angry about comments by Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy.

McCarthy said Brown is a gang leader who has been arrested 45 times on a list of charges. He said the boy's father was the intended target.

"If Mr. Brown is in custody, his son is alive. That's not the case. Quite frankly, he shouldn't have been on the street," the police superintendent said.

McCarthy has made it clear that Amari's father, Antonio Brown, needs to cooperate with police. Brown's family said the superintendent needs to let them grieve first.

"Just let me grieve. Nobody knows what I got going on. Nobody understands my pain. Let me grieve," Brown said.

McCarthy said Brown gave police a statement after the superintendent's initial remarks, but he claims Amari's father held back a lot of information about the possible shooter.

"The fear is he's going to take care of it himself," McCarthy said.

A 26-year-old woman was wounded in the same shooting that killed Amari Brown. Malerie Britton remembered her final words with the 7-year-old boy.

"I was asking Amari, 'I haven't seen you in a long time. You're getting big.' He like, 'That's because my birthday keep coming up so fast.' Then, next thing you know, it's a bunch of shooting going on. I realized I was hit twice. I looked down and that baby was lying right there on the floor - hit," Britton said.

While no one is in custody, police said they are following several leads. There is a police camera at the crime scene. It was working at the time of the shooting.

Nine people, including Amari Brown, were killed and at least 53 people were injured in Chicago shootings between late Thursday afternoon and Sunday.