Eric Billups, a 16-year-old sophomore at Hyde Park Academy, was fatally shot on the afternoon of April 15, 2026, while standing at a bus stop near the Southside YMCA on 63rd Street and Stony Island Avenue in the Woodlawn neighborhood. The shooting happened shortly after 3:30 p.m. as students were leaving school; witnesses said students scattered when gunfire erupted. Billups was struck multiple times and died after being taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center. A 16-year-old girl identified by his family as his girlfriend was also shot in the leg and treated at the same hospital, listed in fair condition.

Family members remember Billups, nicknamed King, as a strong student in Advanced Placement classes who had already begun receiving college letters. His mother, Rolanda Phoenix, and his godmother, Janneil Stuttley, believe the attack was not random and say it followed an earlier school‑day argument reportedly over a vape pen. Phoenix said she believes the shooter is another teenage boy known to law enforcement. No arrests had been made in the days after the shooting.

Did anyone at Hyde Park Academy or in Woodlawn see what happened at the bus stop that afternoon or know more about the earlier argument?