A shooting incident occurred on Saturday night in an alley within the Hermosa neighborhood. The victim, a man, was found wounded, but the duration he remained unattended is unknown since there were no 911 calls to report the gunfire. The man was uncooperative with the police, and the area was no longer covered by the ShotSpotter gunshot detection system, which was deactivated by Mayor Brandon Johnson in September 2024.
Around 9:07 p.m., a 911 call was made by someone who had been approached by an individual demanding an ambulance. This person reported that another individual had been beaten and was bleeding in an alley located behind the 1900 block of North Kilbourne Avenue, as recorded in CPD dispatch audio.
Police and fire teams arrived to search the area and discovered the man approximately ten minutes later. He was transported to Mount Sinai Hospital for treatment of a gunshot wound to his right knee. According to the CPD, the victim did not cooperate with their investigation efforts.
One shell casing was found at the scene, indicating the shooting occurred where the man was located. This detail highlights a point often made by ShotSpotter supporters: the system could have immediately alerted authorities to the gunfire and helped locate the victim, even without any 911 calls reporting the shots.
Ald. Jessie Fuentes (26th) represents the district where the shooting took place. Fuentes was among the few City Council members supporting Mayor Johnson’s decision to remove ShotSpotter, though her public statements sometimes appeared contradictory.
“I just had a four-year-old boy shot on North Avenue,” Fuentes stated in 2024. “ShotSpotter detected the sound. It didn’t prevent that young boy from being shot.”
While no technology can prevent someone from firing a gun, ShotSpotter was designed to expedite emergency responses for victims like the child Fuentes mentioned and for the numerous other shooting victims in Chicago annually.
Fuentes also contended that there is no proof ShotSpotter improved community safety, claiming, “the safest communities in our city don’t have ShotSpotter.”
Her claim is correct, but her reasoning is flawed. City officials deployed ShotSpotter in areas with high shooting incidents instead of installing it in areas with fewer incidents. Fuentes implied that Lincoln Park’s safety was due to the absence of ShotSpotter, whereas the truth is Lincoln Park did not have the system because it was already a safe area.
Approximately 67% of aldermen supported retaining ShotSpotter, including most from the city’s most violence-affected wards, as shown by City Council voting records. Much opposition came from aldermen representing areas where the system was never installed.
Since Mayor Johnson terminated the ShotSpotter contract following the 2024 Democratic National Convention, CWBChicago has identified 89 cases where gunshot victims experienced prolonged waits for assistance in areas once monitored by the system. This was often due to the absence of 911 calls or vague caller information that hindered officers from locating victims swiftly.
These delays might be fatal. Data from HeyJackass.com shows that about 21% of people shot in Chicago this year succumbed to their injuries. In cases identified by CWBChicago with delayed responses, the fatality rate is nearly 60%, almost triple the overall rate.
When dismantling ShotSpotter, Johnson pledged to find a superior gunfire detection system to safeguard all Chicago neighborhoods. Nearly two years later, although proposals from various companies have been received, no replacement has been announced.
About this series
As of 12:01 a.m. on September 23, 2024, Chicago ceased its association with ShotSpotter, a gunfire detection system used in 12 of the city’s most violence-affected neighborhoods. Mayor Brandon Johnson firmly stood by his decision to dismantle ShotSpotter, despite requests from the majority of aldermen, numerous citizens, victims’ advocates, and his appointed police superintendent to keep it operational.
This series, titled “Brandon’s Bodies,” aims to document cases of shooting victims and police investigations that might have benefited from gunshot detection technology.
The criteria for inclusion are instances where a gunshot victim is found outdoors in an area previously monitored by ShotSpotter, with either (1) no 911 calls reporting the gunfire or (2) reports of gunfire in a general area without leading to the victim’s prompt location.
