A 24-year-old woman shot on a Chicago sidewalk earlier this month has died of her injuries, and Area 4 detectives are investigating the shooting. Shamyra Williams was found on the 200 block of North Leamington Avenue in the Austin neighborhood on Sept. 19 after police responded to a call of a person shot, and she died days later at the hospital.
According to the Chicago Sun-Times, officers responded at about 10:25 p.m. that night and found Williams on the sidewalk. She had been shot once in the head and twice in the right arm. Police took her to Mount Sinai Hospital, where she was initially listed in critical condition.
Autopsy Confirms Cause of Death
Williams died Thursday, Sept. 24, of multiple gunshot wounds, officials said. An autopsy conducted the following Saturday by the Cook County medical examiner's office confirmed that cause of death. Area 4 detectives are investigating the shooting, per the same account.
Williams' death adds to a string of shootings that have shaken the Austin neighborhood in recent weeks. As ABC7 Chicago reported in September 2020, 24 people had been shot and seven killed in Chicago weekend violence as of early Sunday morning.
Pattern of Violence on the Same Block
The same stretch of North Leamington Avenue has seen deadly violence before. ABC7 Chicago reported that a 17-year-old boy was fatally shot in the 200 block after two unknown suspects approached him in an alley and opened fire; the gunmen then fled southbound on Leamington Avenue in a light-colored vehicle, and the teen was pronounced dead at the scene.
Just weeks before Williams was shot, another woman was killed in Austin under similar circumstances. Late Saturday, Aug. 22, 2026, a 48-year-old woman was shot in the head and pronounced dead at the scene, according to the Chicago Tribune. That same shooting left a 43-year-old woman grazed by a bullet and a 48-year-old man shot in the right ankle; both were taken to Mount Sinai Hospital in good condition.
A separate late-night shooting also struck the neighborhood, according to WGN-TV, which reported that one woman was killed and two other people were wounded in Austin after three victims standing outside in the 5400 block of West Fulton Street around 11 p.m. heard gunshots and felt pain. It is not established whether that shooting or the earlier Leamington Avenue killing are connected to Williams' case.
Area 4 detectives are investigating the shooting.
