CHICAGO – Police are conducting a death investigation after a man was found shot to death near an Austin neighborhood schoolyard Monday evening. The 66-year-old was found shortly after 11 p.m. in the 1800 block of North Sayre, a neighborhood formerly served by the city’s ShotSpotter gunfire detection network.
According to police, someone called 911 when he saw the man unconscious next to a tree. First responders determined he had been shot in the head. A firearm was found at the scene.
A dispatcher said CPD has not received any calls about shots fired in the area since at least Monday afternoon. Officials don’t know how long the man was outside before he was discovered.
Ald. Chris Taliaferro (29th) represents the neighborhood. He was an outspoken supporter of ShotSpotter and was part of the two-thirds majority of the City Council that tried to keep the technology active after the city’s contract expired at 12:01 a.m. on September 23.
Despite the urging of Taliaferro and his colleagues and the support of the city’s police commissioner and 70% of Chicago residents, Mayor Brandon Johnson declined to renew ShotSpotter’s agreement.
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 asked for it to remain in place.
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.
Tim Hecke is the managing partner of CWBChicago. He started his career at KMOX, the legendary news radio station in St. Louis. From there he went on to work at stations in Minneapolis, Chicago and New York City. Tim went on to build syndicated radio news and content services serving each of America’s 100 largest radio markets. He became managing partner of CWBChicago in 2019. His email address is tim@cwbchicago.com
