Man Found Critically Wounded on Far South Side Block Amid Delayed Response
A 64-year-old man was found critically wounded on a Far South Side block late Thursday night after no one called in gunfire, a delay that may have been prevented if ShotSpotter were still active in the neighborhood.
Fire Department personnel and Chicago police officers were dispatched to the first block of West 112th Place around 10:42 p.m. after someone reported a man lying outside “mumbling for help,” according to dispatch records. Responders found him on the ground with gunshot wounds to his back, groin, inner thigh, and buttocks.
He was taken to Christ Hospital in critical condition. CPD said he was unable to provide details about what happened, and no arrests have been made.
The shooting occurred in the 9th Ward, represented by Ald. Anthony Beale, a longtime defender of acoustic gunshot detection technology and one of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s fiercest critics on public safety. In the months leading up to the mayor’s unilateral decision to terminate the city’s relationship with ShotSpotter last year, Beale was among the 67 percent of City Council members who urged him to keep the system active.
Beale argued that Johnson was “in a bubble, because he’s got 116 people protecting him,” while residents in the Ninth Ward “don’t have that luxury.” He also criticized the administration’s spending priorities, saying the city could commit “hundreds and hundreds of millions of dollars on migrants” but not eight million dollars to maintain ShotSpotter.
Before the contract ended in September 2024, Chicago residents, a City Council supermajority, and CPD’s superintendent called on Johnson to preserve the system. The mayor moved forward anyway, prompting Beale to reroute dozens of Johnson’s favored ordinances into slow-moving committees to stall them.
As of 12:01 a.m. on September 23, 2024, Chicago ended its use of ShotSpotter, a gunfire detection system that had been deployed in 12 of the city’s most violence-impacted neighborhoods. The technology identified suspected gunfire locations down to specific addresses and even pinpointed spots like alleys, sidewalks, or the side of a house.
Mayor Brandon Johnson refused to reverse his decision to dismantle the system, despite calls to preserve it from a majority of aldermen, numerous residents, victims’ advocates, and his own appointed police superintendent.
On this page, CWBChicago tracks cases where people have been found shot in areas that were previously covered by ShotSpotter without timely accompanying 911 calls. These cases often involve victims discovered with no corresponding 911 calls or calls that gave vague or incorrect information about where shots were fired.
Editor’s note: Case #13 was removed from this list on May 21, 2025, after the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office determined the individual died by suicide in a fall from height.
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