Chicago police Supt. Larry Snelling talks at a press conference following the Tuesday, June 18 shooting death of 7-year-old Jai’Mani Amir Rivera. A 16-year-old boy has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in Rivera’s death. (Photos taken from Chicago Police Department Facebook video)

A 16-year-old boy has been charged in the murder of a 7-year-old on Chicago’s Near West Side.

The teen has been charged with two counts of first-degree murder in the death of Jai-Mani Amir Rivera. The teen also had two warrants for his arrest.

He was scheduled to appear Saturday, June 22 at a juvenile detention hearing.

Members of the Great Lakes Regional Fugitive Task Force arrested the teen Thursday, June 20 on the 1800 block of West Monroe Street.

He was identified as the offender who shot and killed Rivera shortly after 3 p.m. Tuesday, June 18 near his home on the 2300 block of West Jackson Boulevard, according to police.

The suspect was placed into custody and charged.

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson said the child’s killing “is unacceptable.”

“I want to again extend my deepest condolences to the family of Jai’mani Amir Rivera and all who loved him and thank the Chicago Police Department for its efforts in this case,” Johnson said in a statement. “This senseless violence in our city is unacceptable and all offenders must be held accountable.

“These killings tear at the very fabric of our society, shatter families, leave our neighborhoods shaken and our city in mourning. Nothing can ever replace the loss of a child; and I hope Jai’mani’s family finds some measure of closure in the apprehension and charging of the alleged offender.”

Chicago police said officers responded to the scene and observed the boy with a gunshot wound to the chest. The officers immediately rendered aid and transported the boy to Stroger Hospital, but he was pronounced dead at the hospital.

“The violence that’s going on in the city right now, for the parents of this 7-year-old, has to be unbearable,” Chicago police Supt. Larry Snelling said following the shooting. “It’s unbearable and unacceptable for everyone in our city.

“The random shooting of this 7-year-old in unacceptable. We really have to think about who we are as a society when our kids are being shot in the street.

“We are losing our children, and we really need to think about the gun violence that is going on in this city and we all need to step up to try to fight this type of gun violence to save our children,” he added.

“And it is not just this case. We are seeing this happen all too often to our children,” Snelling said.

The police superintendent noted that so far this year, 127 youths have been victims of gun violence in the city.

“We have had 17 who have lost their lives to gun violence. Those numbers are significantly down from last year but still unacceptable,” Snelling said. “What we need to talk about is how we’re going to protect our children.”

Snelling said Rivera’s life “was snuffed out before he had the opportunity to live it the way it was needed to be lived.”

“The grief in this city has become increasingly more unbearable,” Mayor Johnson said in the

Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson talks about the crime gripping the city. “The grief in this city has become increasingly more unbearable,” Johnson said.

aftermath of Rivera’s death. “The ungodly behavior, the acts of violence that have plagued our city for so long have reached a breaking point.

“This is no longer just simply about tragedy. This is about course-correcting ways of life of some individuals in this city who have caused terror, trauma and torment.”

“We need to do everything in our power to build a society in which a child can grow up and go outside without the fear or reality of being murdered,” Johnson added.

Snelling said Rivera was exiting his apartment to visit a neighbor and when he reached the sidewalk shots rang out.

Mayor Johnson, who lives in Austin, said he fears, as other Chicago parents do, of his kids being harmed while they are out playing. He said he and his wife talked with their boys about routes they could take on their bikes.

“This is a fear families have dealt with for decades in this city,” Johnson said.

He said that is why he is doing everything in his power to invest in areas where “poverty is pervasive.”

“There is a direct correlation between disinvestment, poverty and violence,” Johnson said.

Snelling said that in too many neighborhoods residents feel like prisoners in their own home, unable to go outside.

“It’s tragic that we come upon scenes where children are shot, where the elderly are shot, or anybody, for that matter, people losing their lives senselessly to gun violence in this city,” Snelling said. “Something has to be done about it.”

“The tragedy has just been overwhelming. The loss of life, this is unnatural, it’s ungodly,” Mayor Johnson said of the violence gripping the city.

“The tragedies we are experience right now are the direct results of decades of disinvestment,” he said. “The tragedy is not just the shooting or the shootings, the tragedy is when we take hope away from communities that have been calling for investments for decades.”

kbeese@chronicleillinois.com