A 21-year-old man is charged with murder in last weekend’s fatal shooting outside the Archer Orange Line station in McKinley Park. Aaron Zawadzki, of the 3500 block of South Western Avenue, is scheduled for a detention hearing Saturday afternoon.
Police responded to the station at 3528 South Leavitt around 5:30 a.m. on Sunday, September 7, after a CTA worker found the 26-year-old victim lying outside the station, shot. He was pronounced dead at the scene with a gunshot wound to his upper body. A single 9mm shell casing was found on the sidewalk outside the station.
An officer who reviewed surveillance footage said it showed the victim leaving the station and exchanging words with a man and woman who were following him. Moments later, the video showed the victim running before dropping to the ground.
This week, McKinley Park News reported that Chicago police shared additional details at a September 10 community meeting. According to the outlet, an officer told residents the victim had been harassing the gunman and the gunman’s girlfriend on the Roosevelt Orange Line platform. At one point, the victim exposed himself to the woman, the outlet reported.
All three exited at 35th/Archer, where the argument continued outside the station. Residents were told the shooting occurred just outside of camera range before the gunman and his girlfriend fled on a scooter.
Investigators said a CTA worker heard the gunshot but didn’t call 911 until they went outside about 10 minutes later and found the victim’s body. Before the ShotSpotter network was shut down, an alert about the gunfire would have gone out to police immediately, even if no one picked up their phone to call 911. Unfortunately, the mayor ended the city’s relationship with the gunfire detection system one year ago.
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