On August 17, 1991, 40-year-old Jimmie Lamar Haynes, an African American officer with the Chicago Housing Authority Police Department, was shot while on duty near the Robert Taylor Homes at 4525 South Federal Street in Chicago. Haynes and fellow officers had just exited the complex and were standing in a parking lot when a sniper using an AR-15 rifle opened fire. Haynes was taken to Mercy Hospital and Nursing Center and died of his wounds two days later.

Police arrested three people in connection with the attack: Lorenzo Guye, 18, who was believed to have fired the fatal shot and was wanted on a separate murder charge at the time; Ellean Nance, 20; and a 13-year-old boy. Nance and the juvenile were charged with first-degree murder. The incident prompted a large manhunt and predawn sweeps of several buildings in the Robert Taylor Homes.

Haynes, a U.S. Army veteran discharged as a Sergeant First Class after 20 years of service, was buried on August 23, 1991, in Burr Oak Cemetery. He was survived by his wife Lillie Marie, children Meisha and Michael, his mother Johnnie Carter, and siblings.