CHICAGO – Police and fire personnel responding to a “person down” call Saturday evening discovered the person had been shot.
A 911 caller reported a man lying in the street in the first block of West 125th Street around 7 p.m. He was pronounced dead at the scene from a gunshot wound to the neck, according to CPD. The killer remains at large. Police were still working to identify the man and determine his age.
A witness told police they saw a silver SUV leave the area, but police found no shell casings. The street was previously monitored by the city’s ShotSpotter network.
Ald. Anthony Beale (9th) represents the area where the man was found. Beale was an outspoken supporter of the city’s ShotSpotter network. He was among the most vocal two-thirds of the City Council that tried, and failed, to keep the system active despite Mayor Brandon Johnson’s opposition.
“Luckily he is in a bubble,” Beale said of Johnson days before ShotSpotter’s contract expired on September 23, “because he is protected by 116 people. You know what? We don’t have that luxury.”
Just hours after the victim was found on 125th Street, another man was found fatally shot at the intersection of 100th Street and Indianapolis Boulevard. ShotSpotter previously monitored that area as well.
About this series
On September 23, 2024 at 12:01 a.m., Chicago ended its relationship with ShotSpotter, a gunfire detection system deployed in 12 of the city’s most violence-affected neighborhoods.
Mayor Brandon Johnson stubbornly refused to reconsider his decision to dismantle ShotSpotter, even as the vast majority of councilors, many citizens, victims’ advocates and his hand-picked police commissioner called for its enforcement.
This reporting series, called “Brandon’s Bodies,” seeks to document shooting victim cases and police investigations that could have benefited from gunshot detection technology.
The general criteria for inclusion is a gunshot victim found outdoors in a location previously served by ShotSpotter, with either (1) no accompanying 911 calls about gunfire, or (2) calls about gunfire in a general area that is not lead to the timely location of the victim.
