Officials are still trying to identify a man who was found fatally shot in a West Side alley early Tuesday after no one in the neighborhood called 911 to report the gunfire that killed him. The man is the latest shooting victim to go undiscovered in an area that used to be covered by the city’s ShotSpotter network.

The gunfire detection system was dismantled last year by Mayor Brandon Johnson despite repeated attempts by a supermajority of the City Council to keep the technology active.

A 911 caller reported finding the victim bleeding and unresponsive in an alley behind the 1800 block of South Ridgeway at about 12:37 a.m. Officers arrived to find the man lying on the pavement with gunshot wounds throughout his body. He was transported to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, according to Chicago police.

The caller told officers he had heard gunfire earlier in the night but did not report it at the time. No one else in the area called either, according to dispatch records. Investigators recovered four shell casings in the alley.

The killing occurred in the 24th Ward, represented by Ald. Monique Scott, who was among 67% of City Council members who urged Johnson to renew the ShotSpotter contract last year. Their warning echoed the public position of CPD Superintendent Larry Snelling and, according to a poll released last fall, a large majority of Chicago residents.

“We’re basically going to play Russian roulette with our constituents’ lives,” Scott said at the time, calling September 22, 2024, the final day the system was active, “doomsday.”

Brandon’s Bodies

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.