Chicago police officers responding to a “burglary in progress” call overnight found a man fatally shot in the backyard of a South Shore home.
CPD took someone into custody at the scene, but no reports of shots were received before they found the victim, who was celebrating his 24th birthday on Friday. The shooting occurred in a neighborhood that was monitored by the city’s ShotSpotter network until Mayor Brandon Johnson deactivated the system on September 24.
According to the dispatch recordings, a homeowner called 911 around 4:30 a.m. to report someone was trying to break into his home through the side door. Officers were told the would-be intruder was banging on the door and yelling “police,” and they were also told the caller’s son had a concealed carry permit.
When police arrived around 4:40 a.m., they saw a man on a back porch. After taking a closer look, they realized he had been shot and called an ambulance. According to CPD, the gunshot victim died at the University of Chicago Hospital.
Officers at the scene seized a firearm from a man they arrested at the scene. CPD said charges were pending as of Saturday morning.
The shooting occurred in the 7th Ward, represented by Ald. Gregory Mitchell, a member of the two-thirds majority of the City Council, who tried to keep ShotSpotter active after its contract expired on September 23. A poll taken before Johnson terminated the city’s ShotSpotter contract found that about 70% of city residents wanted to keep the system in place. CPD Supt. Larry Snelling also expressed support for the technology.
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 led to the timely location of the victim.
