The man had just moved to the Far South Side block a few weeks ago. Neighbors said they would often see him sitting outside the front stoop, greeting them as they passed by.
That’s where police found the 28-year-old man Wednesday night, facedown with a gunshot to the head. He was lying next to the chair he always used, neighbors said.
Police responded to the 10500 block of South Wentworth Avenue around 11:50 p.m. after neighbors heard up to 20 shots. Police said they found nearly two dozen shell casings from two guns in a gangway across the street.
“I hear the shots, I dive for cover,” said Dexter Patterson, 50, who lives on the same block. “I come down the street looking, I see that boy laying on the sidewalk. He was dead right there. Wasn’t no breathing.”
Another man, Corey, 21, who declined to give his last name, said he arrived about the same time. He had given the man’s fiancee a ride home from work right after the shooting. They had gotten there before police did, he said, and found him dead.
“Slumped over on his face,” he said. “She went crazy.”
The fiancee remained on the scene as officers strung crime tape in front of the two-story yellow brick apartment building. The man’s body was covered by a blue cloth, except for his shoes. The fiancee began to scream and cry. She paced up and down the sidewalk, her breathing quick and shallow.
She walked up for a closer look at the body. She stumbled, leaned over against a car and threw up.
Authorities identified the man as Chavrone Finley, 28, of the same block where he was killed. He was pronounced dead just after midnight Thursday morning.
Other people stood in clusters at the crime tape for hours. When police started working close to the body, they grouped on 105th Place to try to catch a glimpse, despite a large police van that had been driven in front of them to block the view.
Finley was among nine people shot in Chicago between Wednesday morning and early Thursday.
The other shootings:
* At 5:20 a.m. Thursday, a male was shot in West Garfield Park. He was in the 4400 block of West Madison Street when he was hit in the leg. He went to Stroger Hospital in fair condition.
* About 4:25 a.m., a 20-year-old man was shot in East Garfield Park. He was standing outside in the 600 block of North Drake Avenue when he was hit. He went to Stroger Hospital, and his condition was stabilized.
* At 12:50 a.m., a 23-year-old man was shot in the right leg in Marquette Park and taken in good condition Holy Cross Hospital. Police said he was in an alley in the 7200 block of South Western Avenue when someone on a bike rode up and fired shots.
* At 9:30 p.m. Wednesday, a 32-year-old man was shot in the Back of the Yards neighborhood. He was driving west in the 1500 block of West 48th Street when he was hit in the head. He drove all the way to 30th Street and Kedzie Boulevard, where he and his passenger flagged down a nearby ambulance. From there, he was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, and his condition was stabilized.
* Just after 9:20 p.m., a 21-year-old woman was shot in Altgeld Gardens. She was in her apartment in the 700 block of East 133rd Street when two people outside started shooting at a man on the street, police said. Some of the bullets went through the front door of her residence and grazed her in the buttocks. She declined medical treatment at the scene.
* About 8:50 p.m., a 31-year-old man was shot in West Woodlawn. He was outside in the 6100 block of South Evans Avenue when someone wounded him in the leg. He went to the University of Chicago Medical Center a few blocks away, then was transferred to Mount Sinai Hospital. He was listed in good condition. A police source said the shooting may have been over a dice game.
* About 4:15 p.m., a 38-year-old man was shot in the South Chicago neighborhood. He was in the 8000 block of South Coles Avenue when he was hit in the shoulder. He went to the University of Chicago Medical Center, and his condition was stabilized.
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* About 10:55 a.m., a 29-year-old man was shot in a West Englewood drive-by. He was in the 7300 block of South Winchester Avenue when someone opened fire from a passing SUV and he was hit in the right leg, below the knee. He was taken to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, where his condition was stabilized, police said.