D'Marion Green had just stepped off a boat at Chicago's 31st Street Beach when he offered to help a woman carry her bag, a small act of kindness his mother says cost him his life. The Eastern Illinois University football player was shot and killed in the encounter that followed, and more than three months later, no one has been arrested.
Green's mother, Dunyel Green, is now pleading publicly for witnesses to speak up, saying the case has stalled because nobody has come forward. According to NBC Chicago, Green describes her son as a standout college football player at Eastern Illinois University whose life ended in a shooting at the beach on June 30. She said the trouble started when a man confronted D'Marion, accusing him of trying to talk to his girlfriend. “The guy came and swung at him and they began fighting,” she said, per the same report. Chicago police said D'Marion was later found on the ground with a gunshot wound.
A Mother's Grief and a Son's Promise
Dunyel Green describes her son in the kind of terms parents reserve for the children who make them proudest. “He was my oldest son, I was very proud of him,” she said, according to the outlet's report. She said D'Marion had never been to jail and instead built his life around school, work, family and fun — he was on the honor roll, and his dream was to go to the NFL.
That dream now sits unfulfilled, cut short on a summer afternoon at the lakefront. The station's report does not specify where D'Marion was shot beyond noting he was found on the ground with a gunshot wound; per Dunyel Green's own account, he was shot in the chest and head, though that detail comes from her description alone.
Police Say the Case Remains Open
Chicago police have confirmed the case remains open and unsolved, and Dunyel Green says that's precisely the problem — she believes police cannot make an arrest because no one is stepping up to talk. Her message to anyone who witnessed what happened is direct: come forward so the person responsible can be held accountable.
Anyone with information can text the keyword CPDTIP to 738477 to receive a link to an anonymous tip form, or text a tip to 274637 by starting the message with CPD, per the same NBC Chicago account relayed by Green.
A Beach With a Troubled Recent History
D'Marion Green's shooting adds to a string of violent incidents that have unfolded at 31st Street Beach in recent memory. ABC7 Chicago reported that two people, a 23-year-old man and a 22-year-old woman, were killed in a separate shooting near the beach on a Friday morning after the man exchanged gunfire with several people around 3:20 a.m.; police said several guns and dozens of shell casings were found in a nearby parking lot, and three people were taken into custody. Family identified the victims in that shooting as Elijah Dillon Bombin and his girlfriend, the mother of their two children, and the outlet noted the shooting followed a Wednesday-night incident near the beach in which one woman died and another was wounded.
In a separate episode, ABC7 Chicago reported that four people, including two off-duty police officers, were injured in a large fight at the beach around 4:05 p.m. in the 3100 block of South Lake Shore Drive; four suspects were taken into custody with charges pending. After the fatal shooting, Alderman Lamont Robinson asked the Chicago Park District to close the beach at 9 p.m. instead of 11 p.m. until more security could be added.
Citywide Violence Still Near Historic Lows
Green's death comes even as citywide numbers suggest Chicago's violence has stayed near record-low levels for much of 2026. According to WTTW News, the city recorded 39 homicides in August, the fewest for any August since 2011, bringing the year's homicide total to 289 through the end of that month — two more than over the same period in 2025. The outlet also reported 141 shooting incidents and 198 shooting victims in August, declines of nearly 20% and 18% from a year earlier, with 1,264 people shot across the city through the first eight months of the year, about 1% fewer than the same stretch in 2025.
Those citywide trends offer little comfort to a mother still waiting for answers. For Dunyel Green, the numbers don't matter as much as the silence surrounding her son's case — a silence she's hoping someone, somewhere, is finally ready to break.
