Police said two suspects walked up to a group outside a South Side store and opened fire.
CHICAGO, IL — One man was killed and three others were injured early Wednesday after gunfire erupted outside a store in the Englewood neighborhood on the city’s South Side, according to Chicago police. Investigators said two male suspects approached four men standing in a parking lot and began shooting just after midnight.
The shooting added to a string of violent incidents reported across Chicago overnight and into Christmas Eve morning, drawing a large police response to the 7000 block of South Halsted Street. Detectives said the motive was not immediately known and no one had been taken into custody by late morning. The three wounded men were expected to survive, police said, though one refused treatment at a hospital.
Police said the four men were outside in a parking lot near a liquor store and convenience storefront when two men walked up and opened fire. “It is unclear what led up to the shooting,” police said in an initial account. Officers arriving moments later found one man with a gunshot wound to the head. He was pronounced dead at the scene, authorities said, as patrol officers secured the area and called in detectives to begin canvassing for witnesses and video.
A 27-year-old man was shot in the leg and taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was listed in good condition, police said. A 38-year-old man suffered a graze wound to an arm and was transported to the same hospital in good condition, authorities said. A 33-year-old man was also grazed on an arm and refused medical attention, according to police. Investigators said the wounded men were part of the same group that had been standing in the lot when the suspects approached and fired.
Video from the scene showed police vehicles crowding the parking lot as officers taped off the area and searched for evidence. Detectives from the police department’s Area One unit were assigned to the case, police said. The suspects were described only as two unknown men, and police did not announce a weapon recovered, a vehicle tied to the shooting, or a suspect description beyond gender in the early hours after the attack. Authorities said they were working to determine whether the victims were targeted or caught in a broader dispute.
Englewood, a neighborhood on Chicago’s South Side, has long faced high rates of gun violence compared with other parts of the city, and shootings near late-night businesses and parking lots have been a recurring pattern for investigators. Police and community leaders have often cited disputes that spill into public spaces, easy access to firearms, and retaliation cycles as drivers of violence in some South Side areas. In this case, police said they were still trying to learn what brought the group together outside the store and what, if anything, happened before the first shots.
Detectives planned to review surveillance video from nearby businesses and city cameras in the area, and to interview witnesses who may have been in the parking lot or along Halsted Street at the time of the shooting, police said. Investigators also were expected to speak with the two men treated at the University of Chicago Medical Center once they were able, and to document the third injured man’s refusal of treatment. Police did not release the identity of the man who was killed, and the medical examiner’s office had not announced a name by late Wednesday morning.
Police urged anyone with information to come forward as investigators worked to identify the shooters and track their movements before and after the gunfire. For residents and workers along the busy Halsted Street corridor, the shooting brought a sudden rush of patrol cars and flashing lights to an area that is active even late at night. Officers remained in the lot for hours, marking evidence locations and moving in small teams as they searched for shell casings and other clues.
By late Wednesday morning, police said no arrests had been made and the investigation remained ongoing. Detectives were expected to continue gathering video and witness statements through the day as the department worked to determine a motive and identify the two suspects.
Author note: Last updated Dec. 24, 2025.