Man shot to death in Lawndale alley; no 911 calls, no ShotSpotter, and cops don’t know when he died

A man was found shot to death behind a Lawndale home on Saturday morning, and Chicago police have no idea when the murder occurred because no one called 911 to report the gunshots that killed him — and the neighborhood’s ShotSpotters were disconnected by the mayor in September 2024.

Officers were dispatched to the 900 block of South Keeler Avenue around 8:21 a.m. after a 911 caller found the man’s body in a back yard. The victim, who has not yet been identified, appeared to be in his late teens or early 20s and had suffered multiple gunshot wounds.

Shell casings were scattered on the ground around the body, according to an officer who responded to the call, indicating the shooting happened where he was found.

Dispatch records indicate that the most recent report of shots fired before the man was found came from someone who reported more than 20 shots fired in the area of Lexington and Lawndale — roughly three-quarters of a mile from the murder scene — at 2:47 a.m.

The 900 block of South Keeler Avenue was previously covered by the city’s ShotSpotter gunfire detection system, technology that automatically alerted CPD to the precise location of gunfire even when no one called 911 about the gunshots. The system could also pinpoint shooting locations when 911 callers could only offer general locations. The system frequently directed officers to crime scenes, ballistics evidence, and victims.

Mayor Brandon Johnson allowed the city’s contract for the system to expire in September 2024, despite opposition from a supermajority of the City Council, his appointed police superintendent, and residents who wanted to keep the technology.

Ald. Monique Scott, whose 24th Ward includes the block where Saturday’s victim was found, was among the 67% of aldermen who wanted to renew the ShotSpotter contract. At the time, a poll showed 70% of Chicago residents favored continuing its use, too.

“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.”

Brandon’s Bodies

At 12:01 a.m. on September 23, 2024, Chicago discontinued its use of ShotSpotter, a gunshot detection technology that had been active in many of the city’s most violence-plagued neighborhoods. The system can pinpoint the exact location of suspected gunfire, even identifying precise locations such as alleys, sidewalks, and the sides of buildings.

Mayor Brandon Johnson declined to walk back his decision to scrap the program, even as a majority of aldermen, community residents, victims’ advocates, and his own hand-picked police superintendent urged him to keep it in place.

CWB Chicago is tracking incidents in which shooting victims have been found in areas formerly covered by ShotSpotter in cases where timely 911 calls were absent. These cases frequently involve victims discovered with no corresponding emergency calls at all or calls that provided vague or inaccurate information about where the gunfire originated.

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.