A 21-year-old man was shot and killed while sitting in his car in Edgewater early Friday, marking the neighborhood’s second homicide of the year, according to Chicago police. Ald. Leni Manaa-Happenworth (48th) said the shooting “appears to be narcotics-related.”
The victim was sitting in a black Chevrolet in the 5100 block of North Winthrop Avenue when a man walked up and opened fire at about 12:24 a.m., according to a CPD media statement. One bullet struck the victim in the neck. He was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead about 30 minutes later.
Witnesses told police the gunman, described as a slim Black male wearing a ski mask, fled in a car that may have been a black Dodge Neon. Another man was reportedly in the vehicle.
Friday’s killing brings Edgewater’s shooting total to six victims this year. The total includes Friday’s homicide, an accidental self-inflicted shooting on January 18, two non-fatal shootings this spring, and a May 14 murder-suicide attempt in which the intended murder was completed but the suspected gunman survived.
At this point last year, Edgewater had recorded seven shooting victims: a triple shooting and two double shootings. Three of those victims were killed.
Overall, violence in the neighborhood remains well below 2024 levels. By June 30 of that year, Edgewater had already recorded 11 shooting victims, and the total climbed to 20 by year’s end. Much of that violence stemmed from a series of targeted shootings in and around the 6000 block of North Kenmore Avenue. Officials believe the spike subsided because of a combination of targeted evictions, narcotics enforcement efforts, and the incapacitation or reduced activity of key people involved in the conflict after they were shot.
