Street Report | Feb 25, 2026

On paper, Chicago’s political leadership says crime is down and the economy is strong. On the street, February 25, 2026 told a different story.

Smiling accused murderer arrested in connection with the killing of a 28‑year‑old Uber Eats driver, working a double shift, who died trying to stop his van from being stolen outside a hospital.

That same afternoon, a 23‑year‑old was shot in Back of the Yards after gunfire erupted in a McDonald’s parking lot. That evening, a rapid cluster of shootings in Woodlawn left multiple victims wounded within minutes.

Meanwhile, entire CHA high‑rise and low‑rise buildings stood boarded while people slept in tents under viaducts and on public land.

Downtown, police were stacked guarding plywood on Michigan Avenue while shootings and open‑air drug markets continued on the South and West Sides.

City Hall keeps saying crime is down and the economy is strong. The streets say otherwise.

Daniel Figueroa: Two Jobs, Dragged Half a Block, Killed by His Own Van

Daniel Figueroa’s death sits at the center of the day — a working man killed trying to protect the vehicle that let him keep working.

He wasn’t out robbing, stealing, or hustling shortcuts. He was doing exactly what every politician tells working‑class people to do: work hard and stack extra hours.

After finishing an Amazon shift, he was delivering Uber Eats just after 2 a.m. at Loretto Hospital when, prosecutors say, three people took his 2005 Dodge Caravan.

When he ran out and tried to stop it, grabbing the passenger‑side door, he was dragged about half a block and then run over, suffering a fatal head injury.

Police later arrested 33‑year‑old Montoya Perry of Maywood. Her smiling mugshot sparked outrage on social media. She is charged with murder during a forcible felony and vehicular hijacking.

The tragedy highlights gig‑economy vulnerability: drivers often leave vehicles running for quick deliveries, making them easy targets.

“He was a good kid. He was too young to die. A parent isn’t supposed to bury their children.”

Lakeshore Drive – Illegal Tickets, Broken Roads

The afternoon broadcast opened along Lakeshore Drive near Streeterville, with light traffic moving past a stalled car and police lights cutting through the gray lakefront.

Conversation shifted quickly to the city’s finances — roughly $200 million in tickets a judge ruled illegal — while potholes and rough pavement kept the same question alive: where is the money actually going?

Emissions testing and road conditions became another example of working people paying into systems that don’t show visible returns on the street.

“They gave us $200 million in tickets. Think about that, illegal tickets that the judge just said were all illegal, but the roads still have potholes. It’s weird. So where is all that money going?”

“Did they actually go tell the people to go do illegal activity? Isn’t that like the Flint, Michigan thing?”

“All of that is supposed to help the environment. It doesn’t help the environment. Somebody did a study and they said all that money is just for businesses.”

Jackson & Michigan – Theater District Turned Hollow

The drive next cut toward Jackson and Michigan, sometime between 4:15 and 4:30 p.m., into what used to be the theater district. The economy showed itself in glass and plywood instead of numbers.

One corner sat completely vacant. The adjacent corner was roughly half alive, putting the stretch at about three‑quarters empty across the intersection.

Papered windows, shuttered storefronts, and aging “coming soon” signs gave the block a hollowed‑out feel, a sharp contrast to what this corridor used to be.

“At Jackson and Michigan, there’s only two corners. The other corners are the park. That’s all closed—papered over. So that means two stores out of two stores on a corner are closed. That means it’s 100% vacant.”

The 78 – Public Land to Private Stadium

The skyline opened up near The 78 site in the South Loop as the afternoon wore on, over land that used to belong to the public and now sits staged for a stadium and private development.

From the road it looked like another example of big promises rising next to unresolved problems: valuable riverfront land shifting into private hands while basic needs elsewhere remain unmet.

“This used to be public land, and it got transferred to private. We should check how that happened and if it’s legal.”

Chinatown & Ping Tom – Tourism Still Hums

The route briefly cut through Chinatown, where restaurants were open, foot traffic steady, and storefronts alive — a reminder that some pockets of the city still hum with everyday commerce even as nearby corridors and housing complexes sit hollowed out.

Just off the main drag, Ping Tom Memorial Park anchors the riverfront. Even the river taxi drops tourists there for Chinatown views and dining: $6–$10 rides from downtown to the pagoda in the park, sunset photos on the South Branch, and an easy walk to dim sum and lantern‑lit side streets.

Tourism keeps that corridor breathing while other parts of the city rot.

From there, the drive turned back west toward the housing zones, with tents near 23rd and Halsted coming into view before Loomis Courts.

Loomis Courts and CHA – Empty Towers, Full Tents

The camera was rolling past multiple boarded CHA high‑rises and low‑rise buildings at Loomis Courts just after 6 p.m. A school building and shared spaces sat quiet just blocks from people living outside in tents.

From street level, most of the complex reads as vacant — boarded doors, papered windows, no resident activity — even though some interior lights and stairwells remain on for security and prep work tied to a planned $45 million CHA “redevelopment” slated to start in summer 2026.

The effect is the same for anyone walking by: a massive public housing footprint functionally offline while people sleep on the sidewalk nearby.

Just down the road at 23rd and Halsted, drug tents line the sidewalk in front of a city shelter — no cleanup crews in sight, no prevention, just open neglect while CHA boards up usable apartments.

The scale of unused housing against visible need made the absence impossible to ignore.

“This is CHA land. This is boarded up. We just came from the tent city at 23rd and Halsted. Why do you think this is boarded up?”

“The CHA spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on a fence to kick the migrants out. The migrants actually liked this because it was next to the police station and they were safe.”

“Chicago doesn’t have a housing problem. Chicago has an institutional racist problem, and it has nothing to do with Black and white. It has to do with socio‑economics.”

“Why aren’t we building Trader Joe’s down in Englewood? Why aren’t we building Trader Joe’s over by Austin? Are there any Trader Joe’s in Black neighborhoods?”

In other words, policy is targeting poor people — who in Chicago are disproportionately Black — no matter who’s sitting in the mayor’s chair.

Woodlawn – Rapid‑Fire Cluster of Shootings

Evening turned Woodlawn into another flashpoint on the South Side.

Concentrated gunfire around the BP station in the 6600 block of South Stony Island and nearby 6900 South Harper left five people wounded within minutes.

Some victims were hit at the gas station itself; others were found a few blocks away as chaos spilled across the area. Victims suffered gunshot wounds ranging from critical to fair condition.

Police pursued a vehicle connected to the shooting before suspects fled on foot.

Multiple firearms were recovered in the surrounding blocks, and witnesses described the violence as targeted — another rapid escalation stacking incidents within the same neighborhood.

As of the morning of February 26, no fatalities from the Woodlawn shootings had been confirmed, but five people were still recovering from their wounds.

Residents know this pattern: separate bursts of violence that blur into one continuous incident.

Ashland & Roosevelt – Everything Connects

Eventually the drive reached Ashland and Roosevelt, with recent violence still hanging over the intersection.

Over the course of the day, scenes — vacant corridors, fenced land, boarded housing, and recurring shootings — had come to feel less like isolated problems and more like connected conditions feeding the same cycle.

“I don’t like to see what I saw today. It’s worse than when I see a murder. I don’t like murder, I don’t like crime—but what I saw today is worse than murder and crime. It creates murder and crime.”

What February 25 showed wasn’t a single crisis. The overlap — economic decline, policy choices, empty housing, and street violence — was all visible in one continuous drive.

City Hall says crime is down. City Hall says the economy is strong.

Streets, boarded buildings, and people living through it say otherwise.

Editor’s Note: This report is based on a three‑hour http://SubX.News® live drive on February 25, 2026, covering Chicago’s Loop, the 78, Ping Tom Park, Chinatown, the Medical District, Loomis Courts, ABLA Homes, and the 23rd & Halsted shelter area, while monitoring live radio news, police traffic, and independent scanner feeds.

The full three‑hour twenty‑one minute live drive can be seen on the http://SubX.News® channels on Facebook and YouTube: Chicago economy crime and migrant update 4pm Feb 25 2026 https://youtube.com/watch?v=fGw4F0BEgoE

SubX.News® On the Spot Reporting

What did you see? Drop your own sightings, photos, and street reports below.

Tag #SubXStreetReport so we can track what City Hall misses.

Chicago: CPD dispatched, and then followed up with a “disregard” call for a 10-1 (Officer in distress) 79th St at the CTA Red Line. CFD is here as well. #NBCSky5 live @nbcchicago

36°F 5:36 PM Chicago Sunset

Wednesday, February 25, 2026

Why is she smiling? Woman charged with killing, carjacking Uber Eats driver grins for her mugshot

Five People Shot, Suspects Arrested After Bailing From Vehicle Pursuit on Foot @CitizenApp

E Marquette Dr & S Stony Island Ave Feb 25 7:19:59 PM CST

Mass Shooting Gang War … 5 Shoot in Woodlawn … 4 in one Location and Another a few Blocks Away …
Wednesday, February 25, 2026 at 8:12 PM
Video and Early Reporting from ChitownCrimechasers-CCC
66th and Stony Island at a the BP gas station, multiple people were shot in what witnesses on scene are described a mass shooting with around five victims.
Some of those victims were found at the gas station, while others, including people from a Sprinter van that had been “shot up,” pulled into a nearby fire station around 67th and Blackstone seeking help.
Chicago police reportedly witnessed the shooting and pursued a gray Hyundai with multiple offenders from the scene to 65th and Stewart in Englewood, where the suspects bailed out, ran into a building, and were taken into custody with at least three guns recovered in the area, near 68th and Normal and by the Englewood STEM football field.

One victim was described as unresponsive as detectives, evidence technicians, and other officers worked both the crime scene and the secondary victim location, while community members were concerned over rising shootings and gun violence despite official claims that crime is down.

Chicago Police Department
Media Major Incident Notifications
4 Shot – 6600 block of S Stony Island Ave
Date/Time: February 25, 2026, at approx. 7:12 p.m.
Officers responded to a call of person(s) shot and discovered multiple victims with gunshot wounds. Preliminary investigation indicates that multiple offenders exited a vehicle, produced firearms and opened fire striking multiple victims before fleeing in the vehicle. Responding officers observed a vehicle involved in the incident and initiated a pursuit. Multiple persons of interest are currently being questioned. There are no further details available at this time. Multiple firearms were recovered on scene and Area One Detectives are investigating.
The victims’ injuries are as follows:
Victim #1: An adult male sustained a gunshot wound to the head and was transported to the University of Chicago Hospital, where he is listed in critical condition.
Victim #2: An 18-year-old male sustained a gunshot wound to the back and a gunshot wound to the left leg and was transported to the University of Chicago Hospital, where he is listed in fair condition.
Victim #3: An19-year-old male sustained a gunshot wound to the left leg and was transported to the University of Chicago Hospital, where he is listed in fair condition.
Victim #4 An 18-year-old male sustained a grazed gunshot wound to the back and was transported to the University of Chicago Hospital where he is listed in good condition (3rd District)
Posted: February 25, 2026 11:10 PM CST
Updated: February 25, 2026 11:10 PM CST
One Shot – 6900 block of S. Harper
Date/Time: February 25, 2026, at approx. 7:17 p.m.
Officers responded to a call of a person shot. The victim, a 29-year-old male, was outside when a dark-colored truck drove past and an unidentified male offender produced a firearm and fired multiple shots at him before fleeing. The victim sustained two gunshot wounds to the right arm and was treated on scene by CFD and transported to the University of Chicago Hospital, where he is listed in fair condition. There are no further details at this time. Area One Detectives are investigating (3rd District)
Posted: February 25, 2026 11:53 PM CST
Updated: February 25, 2026 11:53 PM CST