Back of the Yards slaying adds to 91 cases of delayed response since ShotSpotter ended

Chicago Fire Department pesonnel found a man shot to death in a Back of the Yards alley early Sunday, police said, and record indicate there were no 911 calls about gunfire in the area despite investigators later recovering roughly 17 shell casings near his body.

Chicago police officers were dispatched to the 4500 block of South Honore Street around 12:24 a.m., according to CPD dispatch records. Police said fire department personnel had discovered an unresponsive man with multiple gunshot wounds. The man, described by an officer as appearing to be in his early 40s, was pronounced dead at the scene. He remained unidentified as of Monday afternoon.

In a media statement, CPD said the shooting is believed to have occurred around midnight, roughly 24 minutes before officers were dispatched. The block once fell within the coverage area of ShotSpotter, the city’s former gunfire detection system, which Mayor Brandon Johnson disconnected in September 2024, making good on a campaign pledge to dismantle the technology.

Ald. Raymond Lopez (15th), who represents the neighborhood where the man was found, was among the most vocal defenders of ShotSpotter as Johnson moved to shut it down two years ago. He has continued pushing the city to adopt some form of gunfire detection technology since the system went dark.

Since Johnson ended the city’s ShotSpotter contract following the 2024 Democratic National Convention, CWB Chicago has identified 91 shootings in the system’s former coverage areas where victims appeared to wait extended periods for help because no one called 911 about gunfire or callers gave location information that was too vague for officers to locate victims quickly.

Those delays may carry a real cost. About 21% of people shot in Chicago this year have died from their injuries, according to data compiled by HeyJackass.com. Among the 91 delayed-response cases CWB Chicago identified, the fatality rate is nearly three times higher at 60%.

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.