Joseph Gould, a 36-year-old homeless Black man, was shot dead on July 30, 1995, under the elevated train tracks in River North, Chicago. The medical finding was a contact gunshot wound to the left side of his head that exited the back of his head. The bullet came from a 9 mm Beretta semiautomatic owned by Chicago police officer Gregory Becker.

Becker went to his car, took the gun, struck Gould with it, and the weapon discharged, striking Gould in the head. Becker and his girlfriend initially drove away, unaware Gould was wounded.

The case produced multiple legal proceedings. Becker was charged with involuntary manslaughter and armed violence; a 1997 jury convicted him on those counts, but an appellate court later overturned the conviction for inconsistent charges. In 2003 Becker pleaded guilty to a single count of armed violence, admitting he struck Gould with the gun. Gould was remembered by some who knew him — including businesspeople who hired him to wash windows and fellow StreetWise vendors — and his sister Gwendolyn Gould said he was trying to get his life together at the time of his death.