Chicago Street Reports – SubX.News | June 26, 2025
Picture Scene of the fatal arson fire, 5200 block of West North Avenue, where three lives were lost before dawn. No suspects in custody. ATF on scene as of 8:09 a.m. June 26, 2025. Photo: Nancy Harty / @newsnance @WBBMNewsradio
A night of fire, chaos, and widespread decay unfolded across Chicago on June 26, exposing once again a city without working systems, accountable leadership, or functional order. From fatal arson and mass shootings to sex offenses, police gunfire, and full-scale economic collapse, the city presented a portrait of terminal dysfunction.
The day began before sunrise with a fatal house fire at 1:53 a.m. on the 5200 block of West North Avenue. Three residents—a five-year-old boy, a 32-year-old woman, and a 76-year-old man—perished. A four-year-old was transported in critical condition. Investigators are treating the case as arson. No suspect has been detained.
City leadership continued with staged distractions. NASCAR operations stared to shut down arteries along Lake Shore Drive.
Retailers near the Art Institute stood empty as tourists navigated barricades. Traffic congestion began in the suburbs and stretched to downtown by midday, with no mitigation measures reported.
Incidents escalated as the afternoon progressed.
A bank hold-up alarm triggered at 4753 North Broadway. At the Cermak Red Line station, a transit security officer engaged in a verbal confrontation while customers stood without support. A separate emergency involved a woman pulled from Lake Michigan near 64th Street Beach; a second individual reportedly fell from an orange object nearby.
In Hyde Park, a domestic battery call originated from a child witnessing a violent altercation between parents. At 4727 South Ingleside, police were dispatched but no further updates were issued.
A disturbing request followed shortly afterward: officers were asked to conduct a sweep for “contraband or dead bodies” at 7500 South Shore Drive. Shortly thereafter, reports described five armed males with backpacks roaming the West Side. Additional scanner traffic noted another robbery and a separate gunfire incident during a gathering at Armstrong Park in Bronzeville.
At 10:28 p.m., Chicago police discharged a firearm while responding to unrest at the park. Officers alleged physical assault by individuals in the crowd. One round was fired. No injuries resulted. Charges are pending. The city’s parks, once envisioned as safe zones, remain contested and volatile spaces.
Violence intensified throughout the late evening. Multiple sex offenses were reported at the Howard Red Line station, including one involving public exposure. A group of twenty teenagers displayed a firearm on the CTA platform at State and Lake. On the Green Line, three individuals attacked a man with a knife. Another man was robbed at the 95th Street Red Line, losing personal identification and his LINK card.
Additional incidents included a pregnant woman reportedly shot at a gas station on 63rd and California, a stabbing on 81st Street, an armed robbery at 47th and Wolcott, and a shooting near 102nd and Wentworth involving a stolen vehicle. A three-vehicle crash on Lake Shore Drive left a woman trapped and unable to feel her legs.
Beyond the violence, the economic environment displayed deep structural decay. Across from the Art Institute, a major storefront sat abandoned. Tourist foot traffic passed vacant glass.
On Howard Street, open drug markets operated alongside shuttered businesses. No commercial activity remained, despite the area’s transit access and history as a working-class corridor. The zone no longer attracted investment or enforcement.
In contrast, Boystown along Halsted functioned with full capacity—bars and restaurants filled, sidewalks bustling, retail in operation. Nightlife and public commerce thrived. The contrast illustrated the city’s selective support and enforcement priorities.
Further west in Jefferson Park, blocks of closed storefronts lined the avenue. Economic activity had vanished. Empty glass and decay defined the commercial strip.
Streeterville, once a symbol of affluence and global brand identity, displayed clear evidence of economic collapse. High-rise buildings sat vacant. Retail units near Michigan Avenue were boarded. Drug use occurred in plain sight. Private security guarded empty properties while police remained absent. Harassment of this reporter parked on the curb was documented.
No remediation appeared underway. Just playing scarecrow for the big show coming into town next week. The mayor’s economic “miracle” doesn’t even cover the shopping district anymore.
June 26 delivered a full-spectrum exposure of collapse—violent, economic, civic, and moral.
Wealthy enclaves hosted press conferences. The rest of the city burned, bled, or begged for a response that never came.
This is what a collapse looks like: the rich get PR events and private security. Everyone else gets abandoned storefronts, arson scenes, and city-sanctioned debauchery.
Maybe crime is the cover and the glory.
[ Picture Scene of the fatal arson fire, 5200 block of West North Avenue, where three lives were lost before dawn. No suspects in custody. ATF on scene as of 8:09 a.m. June 26, 2025. Photo: Nancy Harty / @newsnance @WBBMNewsradio ]
Reference Log
Chicago Street Reports 5:00 p.m. (26 June 2025) https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1ZRhgTuBcL/ ATF on scene of apartment fire in Austin 8:09 a.m. (26 June 2025) https://x.com/newsnance/status/1938223069107261839 Fire – Arson, Fire – Fatality 8:44 a.m. (26 June 2025) https://www.facebook.com/share/p/16p9T76bN2/ Heavy traffic starting because of the NASCAR build out 3:40 p.m. (26 June 2025) https://x.com/SubxNews/status/1938355823253594281 people think they can do anything they want 4:00 p.m. (26 June 2025) https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1AZuKnyBcD/ Abandoned Art Institute Store 5:19 p.m. (26 June 2025) https://x.com/SubxNews/status/1938367629355282912 Dad is beating the mom 6:03 p.m. (26 June 2025) https://x.com/SubxNews/status/1938372639262904496 Female in black swimsuit trying to commit suicide 6:10 p.m. (26 June 2025) https://x.com/SubxNews/status/1938374236751421906 Security with canine pretty irate 6:17 p.m. (26 June 2025) https://x.com/SubxNews/status/1938376081402167373 Th1 we need your help to go and check 6:20 p.m. (26 June 2025) https://x.com/SubxNews/status/1938376743384936905 Bank hold up alarm 6:23 p.m. (26 June 2025) https://x.com/SubxNews/status/1938377695072518158 Boystown this is how every neighborhood should be 6:45 p.m. (26 June 2025) https://x.com/SubxNews/status/1938383905448701974 Abandoned … Howard Street Red Line 7:30 p.m. (26 June 2025) https://x.com/SubxNews/status/1938396276275487008 just got robbed Marquette Park 7:42 p.m. (26 June 2025) https://x.com/SubxNews/status/1938397428366938434 McDonald’s Imagine walking into a place, and you see this filth 9:52 p.m. (26 June 2025) https://x.com/SubxNews/status/1938430262632743342 Two black males beating two black females 10:11 p.m. (26 June 2025) https://x.com/SubxNews/status/1938434996433469850 Male black pushed female 10:13 p.m. (26 June 2025) https://x.com/SubxNews/status/1938435461304783357 Assault in progress 10:20 p.m. (26 June 2025) https://x.com/SubxNews/status/1938437206311637050 person stabbed 10:23 p.m. (26 June 2025) https://x.com/SubxNews/status/1938437906382692786 Assault in progress at federales in Fulton Market 10:27 p.m. (26 June 2025) https://x.com/SubxNews/status/1938439057098387575 Five armed males wearing black and book bags 10:28 p.m. (26 June 2025) https://x.com/SubxNews/status/1938439365241213150 Step It Up Hurry Up … Police Call for Help 10:28 p.m. (26 June 2025) https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1AsVQNg7yB/ Stolen blue 2018 Honda 10:47 p.m. (26 June 2025) https://x.com/SubxNews/status/1938444021673955679 a bunch of teens beating a homeless man 10:52 p.m. (26 June 2025) https://x.com/SubxNews/status/1938445367495811285 CTA sex offense 10:55 p.m. (26 June 2025) https://x.com/SubxNews/status/1938446138186650023 backlog of transport vehicles 10:58 p.m. (26 June 2025) https://x.com/IndySportsGuy28/status/1938447501658308863 Another sex offense at Howard Red Line 11:28 p.m. (26 June 2025) https://x.com/SubxNews/status/1938454436302500062 Three car accident Northbound at Chicago Lake Shore Drive 11:41 p.m. (26 June 2025) https://x.com/SubxNews/status/1938457687760769227 CTA violence 20 teens being unruly 11:42 p.m. (26 June 2025) https://x.com/SubxNews/status/1938457943403286826 Abandoned Jefferson Park 11:50 p.m. (26 June 2025) https://x.com/SubxNews/status/1938461431843659968 Pregnant female might have been shot 11:59 p.m. (26 June 2025) https://x.com/SubxNews/status/1938462058632089677 Robbery 95th Street Red Line 11:59 p.m. (26 June 2025) https://x.com/SubxNews/status/1938462142254235776 CTA violence three male blacks jumping 12:05 a.m. (27 June 2025) https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1KPThdzxHX/ Robbery 47th and Wolcott 12:13 a.m. (27 June 2025) https://www.facebook.com/share/v/1FzUS4ZCXN/ Cousin stole her daughter’s car 12:20 a.m. (27 June 2025) https://x.com/SubxNews/status/1938467526553358764 Abandoned Mag Mile is no Different 12:30 a.m. (27 June 2025) https://x.com/SubxNews/status/1938496746528600470 Looks like a felony stop 12:55 a.m. (27 June 2025) https://x.com/SubxNews/status/1938477427623186700
