CHICAGO — A 20-year-old woman was fatally shot in Washington Park Friday night, but it took 16 minutes for police and paramedics to find her body — a delay attributed to a wrong 911 address and the deactivation of ShotSpotter, Chicago’s now-defunct gunfire detection system.
The tragedy unfolded around 9:38 p.m. near the 5400 block of South Prairie Avenue, an area that used to be covered by ShotSpotter technology before Mayor Brandon Johnson terminated the city’s contract with the provider in September 2024. The initial 911 call incorrectly directed police to South Indiana Avenue, leaving responders searching the wrong block for over 10 minutes with no backup from automated systems.
No ShotSpotter, No Shots Fired Calls
According to dispatch records reviewed by CWBChicago, no “shots fired” calls came in to 911 during the incident. In the past, ShotSpotter might have automatically detected and reported gunfire, pinpointing the location more precisely than a caller.
Instead, officers relied solely on the first caller’s faulty information. At 9:52 p.m., a second caller phoned 911 to report a bleeding and unresponsive woman one block over — on South Prairie Avenue. Police quickly located the victim, who was lying beside a single shell casing and a can of mace…