Gunshot victim found lying on West Side street that used to be monitored by ShotSpotter

A 20-year-old man was found critically wounded with a gunshot to the head on Chicago’s West Side early Saturday, and police say there were no calls of shots fired before he was found — a scenario that has become familiar since Mayor Brandon Johnson disconnected the city’s gunfire detection network nearly two years ago. (Update: The victim succumbed to his injuries on July 6.)

CPD said officers found the man lying on the ground in the 700 block of South Independence Boulevard around 1:45 a.m. and EMS transported him to Mt. Sinai Hospital in critical condition. Officers at the scene said they found shell casings on the nearby corner of Lexington and Independence.

The man appeared to have been driving when he was shot and crashed into a tree, according to officers who responded. Investigators found bullet holes in the wreckage of a gray 2023 Acura that had no license plates.

Johnson ended the city’s contract with SoundThinking, the parent company of ShotSpotter, in September 2024, despite objections from two-thirds of the City Council, the city’s police superintendent, and, according to polling, roughly 70% of Chicago residents.

The technology alerted police to gunfire even when no one called 911, and could pinpoint the location of shots fired, getting officers to victims faster when humans reported only shots fired in a general area.

Ald. Monique Scott, whose 24th Ward includes the block where Saturday’s victim was found, was among the 67% of aldermen who voted to renew the ShotSpotter contract. At the time, polling showed 70% of Chicago residents favored continuing its use. “We’re basically going to play Russian roulette with our constituents’ lives,” Scott said as the system’s September 22, 2024, shutdown approached, calling the date “doomsday.”

Since Johnson ended the city’s relationship with the gunfire detection system, CWB Chicago has identified 85 cases in which gunshot victims appear to have endured lengthy waits for emergency responses in areas previously monitored by ShotSpotter because nobody called 911 to report gunfire or because the reports that were made were too general to allow officers to locate the victims.

Those delayed responses may be costing lives. According to data maintained by HeyJackass.com, about 21% of people shot in Chicago this year have died from their injuries. But among the victims involved in the delayed emergency response cases identified by CWB Chicago, the fatality rate is nearly three times higher at 58%.

Johnson launched an open competition to replace the gunshot detection technology after letting the ShotSpotter contract expire. SoundThinking was one of eight firms that responded to the city’s request for information by a September 2024 deadline. Nothing has happened since then, even though the last two city budgets set aside nearly $14 million for the technology.

About this series

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, even though the vast majority of aldermen, many citizens, victims’ advocates, and his handpicked police superintendent requested 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 do not lead to the timely location of the victim.

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