Man shot dead outside Orange Line station, but nobody called 911 for 10 minutes (Too bad the mayor got rid of ShotSpotter)

A man was gunned down outside the Archer Orange Line station early Sunday morning, and for ten long minutes he lay on the ground without anyone calling 911 about gunfire or his injuries.

The delayed response wasn’t just because a hesitant CTA worker waited ten minutes to call 911 after hearing the gunshot, but also because Mayor Brandon Johnson pulled the plug on Chicago’s ShotSpotter network one year ago this month. The controversial decision removed a system that once alerted officers to gunfire in the city’s most violent neighborhoods, even when people did not call 911.

CPD said police responded to the Orange Line station at 3528 South Leavitt around 5:30 a.m. after someone found the 26-year-old man 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.

Surveillance footage reviewed by officers shows the man leaving the station at 5:21 a.m. Two minutes later, the video captured him running before dropping to the ground.

According to preliminary information, a CTA worker told investigators they saw the victim descend from the platform and then heard a single gunshot. But they didn’t call police until about ten minutes later, when they stepped outside and saw the man lying on the ground.

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.

The local alderman, Julia Ramirez, was among the one-third of City Council members who supported Mayor Brandon Johnson’s decision to end the city’s ShotSpotter service. Most other aldermen whose wards had the devices voted to keep the network in place.

Ramirez maintained a low profile on the ShotSpotter issue, and a search turned up no public quotes from her about the technology.

The only time she referenced the gunfire detectors on her Facebook page was in November 2023, after officers responding to a ShotSpotter alert discovered three men fatally shot in the 3100 block of West 39th Place.

About this series

At 12:01 a.m. on September 23, 2024, Chicago officially ended its use of ShotSpotter, the gunfire detection system that operated in the city’s most violence-plagued neighborhoods. The technology provided Chicago police with precise alerts about gunfire, often down to exact street addresses or specific spots like alleys, sidewalks, and gangways.

Mayor Brandon Johnson pressed ahead with the shutdown despite pleas from most aldermen, many residents, victims’ advocates, and even his own police superintendent, who wanted to keep it in place.

On this page, CWBChicago tracks cases where people were found shot in areas formerly covered by ShotSpotter—incidents where the system could have played a vital role in providing a timely response, especially when no 911 calls were made or callers gave vague or inaccurate details about gunfire locations.

Editor’s note: A case previously listed as #13 has been removed as of May 21, 2025, after the Cook County Medical Examiner determined the individual died by suicide in a fall from height.