Joel Jenkins

Joel Jenkins, a 26-year-old Black man and father, lived in Chicago's South Shore neighborhood but was a familiar face in Rogers Park. He loved the area and often spent time with friends at the basketball courts in Loyola Park. His family, including his mother, Cynthia Howard, and his 8-year-old daughter, Ahniyah, later built a memorial for him at the park.

On the evening of September 15, 2020, Jenkins was in Rogers Park with his girlfriend, Dominique Douglas. They were meeting a friend to get money so Jenkins could buy her a puppy. Around 6:10 p.m., they were standing just outside the Morse Red Line station looking through Douglas's bag when a young man got out of a vehicle and walked toward them. As Jenkins looked up, the man pulled out a handgun and fired at least six times, striking Jenkins in the abdomen and chest.

The shooter fled the scene, getting into a black SUV that sped away. Police pursued the vehicle but had to terminate the chase for safety reasons. At the station, bystanders and an officer rushed to aid Jenkins, with one man using his own T-shirt to apply pressure to a wound. Paramedics transported Jenkins to St. Francis Hospital in Evanston, where he was pronounced dead. Investigators recovered six cartridge casings and began analyzing surveillance footage from the transit station.

The video footage proved crucial, capturing the shooter in distinctive clothing: a gray Nike hoodie, patterned blue jeans, white Nike shoes, and a face mask with the word “Chicago” printed on it. In February 2021, police arrested Dylan Young, who was 16 at the time of the shooting. Young's own mother had identified him from the surveillance images. In addition to the visual identification, cellphone data placed Young at the station during the murder and tracked his path as he fled.

Young was charged as an adult with first-degree murder. At his bond hearing, a judge reviewed the evidence and ordered him to be held without bail. Following the court proceedings, Dylan Young was sentenced to 20 years in prison for the murder of Joel Jenkins.