A 5-year-old boy was shot and killed when he was reportedly caught in family crossfire outside a north Birmingham apartment complex.

Police and family identified him as 5-year-old Ta’Narius Moore Jr., affectionately known as TJ. His father and namesake, Ta’Narius Moore Sr., was shot to death in Collegeville on May 10, 2017.

TJ was in kindergarten and would have turned six in January. He played youth league football in Huffman and just hours before his death had been named an All-Star, said his paternal grandmother, Sherie Moore.

“He was a fun, loving guy,’’ Moore said. “He was just a little kid.”

North Precinct officers responded just after 2:30 p.m. Saturday to a call of a person shot at 33rd Terrace North and F.L. Shuttlesworth Drive. Upon arrival, officers discovered the victim unresponsive and suffering from a gunshot wound.

The boy was transported to Children’s of Alabama for treatment of a reported gunshot wound to the head. Investigators later received information that the victim was pronounced dead by hospital staff.

Birmingham police Sgt. Johnny Williams said two family members ⁠— which sources say were both women ⁠— were engaged in an altercation. Both fired weapons at each other and the boy was struck. The apartment complex is directly across the street from Hudson elementary school.

A neighbor said she heard multiple shots fired and then saw a man sitting on the ground cradling the little boy. Police marked as evidence multiple shell casings in the street and the complex parking lot. The owner of the neighborhood store reported having to take cover during the gunfire.

Multiple family members were at the scene. One woman said the boy had asked for a bike for Christmas, but relatives declined further comment. TJ’s stepfather, Carlos Walker, allowed AL.com to share his Facebook post about the boy.

Carlos Walker posted about his stepson TJ Moore's death on Facebook. (Special to AL.com)

Birmingham police Deputy Chief Scott Praytor said multiple people have been detained and they were still looking for others, including witnesses who may have fled following the gunfire.

"We’re talking to family members as we speak, trying to sort out what happened here,'' Praytor said.

Asked if the boy’s mother was involved, Praytor said, "We are speaking to the mother right now trying to find out exactly what happened out here,'' he said. “What I do know is that it’s always a terrible thing when you lose a child out in the street. That seems to be compounded during the holiday season. Nobody wants to see that, but when it’s a child who was with the person that they trust the most, and something like this happens, it’s heartbreaking.”

"We’re at one of those rallying points with the community where we have to rally together and do something to curtail this violence,'' Praytor said. "The police department and communities have been working together and we’re getting crime down in the city. We’re seeing decreases across the board in everything, but one homicide in the city is too many. "

"We all have to keep working harder and harder together to stop this senseless violence until we can get to where no mother, no family members are having to cry over Christmas about a child that’s been taken,'' he said.

Birmingham City Councilman William Parker said he received a call about the shooting and rushed to the scene. "This is awful,'' said Parker, visibly upset by the tragedy. “We’re just in a state of shock. This is just horrible. I just don’t know any way else to describe it.”

"We will embrace and uplift the community over the next couple of days and weeks and make sure this never happens again,'' he said. “A young man is not here with us and that is horrible. A young child is not going to be here for Christmas.”

Parker, joined by one of the neighborhood pastors, the Rev. Van Johnson, said they will hold a unity walk in the neighborhood Monday night.

"I believe prayer will change things,'' Johnson said. “The way to get rid of all the hate is to turn to God, turn to love.”

Parker has organized a unity walk in TJ’s honor to be held at 6 p.m. Monday. He is urging city officials, pastors, and community members to come together to “speak out against the latest instance of senseless violence that took a young life.” The event will begin at Maclin Park and the group will walk together of over the Maxine Herring Parker Bridge in Collegeville.

"Our hearts go out to the family of this young boy who was senselessly taken from us,'' Parker said. “This walk is about remembering his life and also bringing people together so we can find solutions to make sure situations like this no longer happen here.”

TJ was 3 when his father was shot to death in what police said was the result of a long-standing feud between the victim and the shooter. The shooting was ruled justifiable, and no charges were filed.

“I just lost my son to the streets. I feel so empty and hurt,’’ Sherie Moore told AL.com at the time of her son’s death. “It’s something that I’m used to seeing other families go through, but to actually witness this and this be my family, my son, I’m hurt. I really want justice to be served.”

On Saturday evening, Moore said she never could have comprehended losing both of them at all, much less to gun violence and in such a short period. She said she rushed to the hospital Saturday afternoon, but was not able to see TJ. “I just got the phone call and they told me my grandson had been shot,’’ she said. “I’m not doing good at all. I just feel like life is so unfair.”

“I lost my son, and now I lost his junior,’’ she said. “It’s a hard pill to swallow. It’s just hard. It’s unexplainable.”

After his father’s death, TJ used to tell his grandmother that he wished he was Spiderman so he could go up to Heaven, get his daddy and bring him back. “I know they’re together,’’ she said, “but that doesn’t ease my pain.”

“I was waiting for him and his little brother (who just turned 5) to get a little older so I could tell them how great of a father Ta’Narius had been,’’ Moore said. “It just breaks my heart.”

Moore said the city is losing too many of its children – Jurnee Coleman, 4, was shot to death in July, and Kamille “Cupcake” McKinney, 3, was abducted and killed by suffocation in October.

“We’re losing babies,’’ Moore said. “I’m just sick of it.”

“I can’t see how anybody can shoot when children are around, or shoot period,’’ she said. “They don’t think about the consequences that come behind.”

One of TJ Moore's coaches said the slain boy was the "heart and soul" of their defense and had a bright future. (Special to AL.com)

One of TJ’s coaches, Tabios Darden, said he had been with TJ earlier in the day at practice. He said TJ was one of his son’s best friends, and the boys and another best friend got to play together for about an hour Saturday while the coaches talked after practice. "Words can’t describe the pain of losing one of your players,'' Darden said. "Ithurts even more knowing that a kid with such a bright future is gone because of a senseless act of violence. "

"TJ was loved by all of the coaches and teammates,'' he said. “He was the heart and soul of our defense, and we will honor him every time we take the field.”

TJ is the 94th homicide victim in Birmingham this year. Of those, at least 11 have been ruled justifiable and therefore are not deemed criminal. Police departments only have to submit criminal homicides to the FBI for their year-end tally. In all of Jefferson County, there have been 142 homicides, including those in Birmingham.

Anyone with information on the deadly shooting is asked to call Birmingham homicide detectives at 205-254-1764 or Crime Stoppers at 205-254-7777.