A 17-year-old boy is dead after being shot in a drive-by on Chicago’s Northwest Side early Friday, and the circumstances surrounding his death have renewed scrutiny of Mayor Brandon Johnson’s decision to let the city’s ShotSpotter gunfire detection contract expire.

Passersby came across the boy lying in the street in the 6700 block of West Grand Avenue at around 12:49 a.m. and flagged down a patrol car, believing he had been struck by a vehicle. Officers who responded initially shared that assessment, but a subsequent investigation determined he had been shot.

Surveillance footage pulled by officers in the local district’s surveillance room showed a gray Volkswagen SUV traveling north on Normandy Avenue, with a gunman firing from the back seat, according to preliminary information. No one called 911 to report gunfire in the area.

The boy, shot in the chest and arm, was transported to Loyola University Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead.

The lack of a 911 call and the absence of ShotSpotter meant the boy lay in the street, dead or dying, until strangers happened to stop and investigate. Ald. Gilbert Villegas (36th), whose ward covers the area where the shooting occurred, was among a City Council supermajority that pushed Johnson to keep ShotSpotter active. That effort ultimately failed.

Since ShotSpotter’s contract expired, CWB Chicago has identified 80 shooting victims who received significantly delayed emergency responses because nobody reported the gunfire, or the gunfire reports were too vague for emergency personnel to locate the victims. While about 25% of gunshot victims die citywide, among the 80 shooting victims who received delayed assistance, the fatality rate is 58%.

Brandon’s Bodies

As of 12:01 a.m. on September 23, 2024, Chicago terminated its relationship with ShotSpotter, a gunfire detection system deployed in 12 of the city’s most violence-impacted neighborhoods.  Mayor Brandon Johnson stubbornly refused to reconsider his decision to dismantle ShotSpotter, despite the vast majority of aldermen, many citizens, victim advocates, and his handpicked police superintendent requesting that it remain in place.

This reporting series, named “Brandon’s Bodies,” seeks to document cases of shooting victims and police investigations that could have benefited from gunshot detection technology.

The general criteria for inclusion are a gunshot victim found outside 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 did not lead to the timely location of the victim.