On May 6, 2023, Chicago Police Officer Areanah Preston, 24, was fatally shot while returning home in the Avalon Park neighborhood on the South Side. Police say Preston was targeted in an attempted robbery in the 8100 block of South Blackstone Avenue; a gunshot-detection system registered nine shots around 1:45 a.m. Responding officers found her with gunshot wounds after one officer was alerted by her smart watch. She was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead, and her service weapon was taken during the robbery and not recovered in initial reports.

Authorities charged four teenagers — Trevell Breeland and Joseph Brooks, both 19; Jakwon Buchanan, 18; and a 16-year-old charged as an adult — alleging they had carried out multiple robberies and a vehicle theft earlier that morning and that several got out of a stolen red Kia and fired on Preston. The teens were held without bail after prosecutors presented what a judge described as significant evidence linking them to the crime spree.

Preston had served three years with the Chicago Police Department, was due to graduate with a Master of Jurisprudence on May 13, 2023, and had applied to the FBI. Her death was ruled a line-of-duty death. If anyone has information about the incident or Preston’s stolen firearm, please share it with investigators.