On the afternoon of December 4, 2020, gunfire shattered the routine on West Station Street in Kankakee, Illinois. Officers arriving around 1:50 p.m. found 32-year-old Patrick Chism suffering from gunshot wounds inside a parked vehicle; he was taken to a local hospital and did not survive. An 8-year-old girl who had been in the car was also struck and taken to hospital by someone who knew both victims; her injuries were reported as not believed to be life-threatening.

Police said the shooter was in a gray Nissan sedan that fired into the vehicle while traveling east on Station Street and treated the case as a homicide. By December 8, local reporting indicated a 23-year-old was in custody on allegations including murder, attempted murder, and aggravated battery with a firearm, although police had not publicly confirmed that person as definitively responsible for the Station Street attack.

Chism’s obituary remembered him as born and raised in Kankakee, involved in basketball, faith, and family life, and devoted to his children. Does anyone who knew Patrick or who was in the area that afternoon have information about the shooting or the gray Nissan?