A 22-year-old man was shot and killed early Wednesday during an attempted carjacking in Chicago’s Northalsted neighborhood, turning a normally quiet residential block into an active crime scene before sunrise. Police said the attack unfolded just before 4 a.m. as two people sat inside a parked vehicle on Waveland Avenue. A second occupant, a 38-year-old man, was not injured.
Scene and timeline
According to CBS Chicago, the shooting happened at 3:59 a.m. in the 700 block of West Waveland Avenue between Halsted Street and Broadway, when two suspects walked up to the parked car and demanded both the vehicle and the occupants' belongings. The suspects opened fire, hitting the 22-year-old in the chest and back. He was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, where he later died.
The attackers drove off in the victims' car, police said. No arrests had been made and no suspects were in custody as of early Wednesday morning.
Neighbors react
For longtime residents, the overnight violence felt jarringly out of step with the usual pre-dawn quiet.
“I'm getting ready, and I can hear the sirens. You don't usually hear sirens,” neighbor AJ Horne told CBS Chicago. Horne, who said he has lived in the neighborhood for about 30 years, added that the early-morning shooting highlights growing concern among locals about late-night and early-morning violence and theft.
Investigation and broader context
Belmont Area detectives are leading the investigation into the carjacking and fatal shooting, according to police. Officers canvassed the block for witnesses and surveillance footage as the sun came up, looking for anything that could help track the stolen vehicle or identify the shooters.
The killing comes amid broader efforts across Illinois to clamp down on vehicle hijackings and auto thefts. State officials have directed grant funding to specialized task forces and police units focused on carjackings, according to reporting by RiverBender.
Authorities have not released descriptions of the suspects or the stolen vehicle. The quiet stretch of the Northalsted corridor was briefly blocked off in the pre-dawn hours as crime scene tape went up and detectives worked the scene, leaving neighbors rattled while investigators tried to piece together what happened. Police are asking anyone with information to contact the Chicago Police Department's Belmont Area detectives or submit a tip through the department’s tip line.
