By Jeremy Gorner

Chicago Tribune • May 10, 2022 at 8:28 pm

Gov. J.B. Pritzker on Tuesday signed into law a series of bills aimed at addressing gun violence and other crime through measures that include a pilot program in some cities that will team social workers with police officers on certain calls.

Pritzker also signed a bill that allows for the state to pay for funerals of gun violence victims under 17. The bill was inspired by the fatal shooting of 4-year-old Mychal “MJ” Moultry Jr. on Labor Day weekend last year on Chicago’s South Side. He was getting his hair braided in a Woodlawn apartment when a bullet pierced a window and struck him in the head.

Pritzker said that because Mychal’s mother, Angela Gregg, could not afford to pay for his burial, his body was cremated. “She should never have had to experience such loss for change to happen,” the governor said. “But she courageously spoke out so no other parent would experience what she did.”

Source: https://www.chicagotribune.com/politics/ct-pritzker-crime-bill-signings-20220511-xuvgjmjwq5a6bh4dyuua5vz4tq-story.html