On January 9, 2024, 43-year-old Shadi Mohammad Suleimen Almomani was shot and killed in an alley behind Half Moon Grocery in the 300-block of East 79th Street in Chicago’s Grand Crossing neighborhood. He had just finished an overnight shift and was sitting in his car around 10:15 p.m. when a man approached in an attempted armed robbery. Security-camera footage reportedly shows the attacker taking Almomani’s money and IDs; when Almomani tried to defend himself he was shot in the head and died at the scene.

The assailant fled and, as of the most recent reports, no one is in custody. Almomani, a former police officer in Jordan, had moved to the United States in August 2023 to support his wife and three children and was working overnight shifts to provide for them. Area Two detectives are investigating, and local leaders have urged anyone with information to come forward.

Who in the neighborhood might have seen or heard something that night?