It was just after 10:27 p.m. on September 4, 2021, when officers were sent to a home in the 1700 block of Dodge Avenue in Evanston for a 911 call of a person shot.
Inside the residence they found Stanley A. Butler III, a 21-year-old Black male, suffering from multiple gunshot wounds.
Paramedics from the Evanston Fire Department treated the 21-year-old male, but he was pronounced dead at the scene, his name later confirmed as Stanley A.
Butler III, by police and the medical examiner.
Detectives learned quickly that Stanley had been targeted.
The initial investigation indicated that multiple offenders had entered the residence, shot the victim, and fled, a strike that police said did not appear to be random.
Around the same time, responding officers spotted a Saturn Vue speeding away westbound on Church Street; a brief attempt to stop the vehicle failed, but the SUV was later located at the Skokie Swift Yellow Line station in the 5000 block of Dempster Street, where officers detained its driver and found two firearms and gloves in plain view on the passenger seat.
Within days, a 19-year-old man from Waukegan, Alejandro Lopez, was charged in the killing of 21-year-old, Stanley A. Butler III.
According to police and court reports, the 19-year-old male was charged with first-degree murder, home invasion with discharge of a firearm, and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon; he was ordered held without bond after a hearing, with investigators emphasizing that additional offenders remained at large and urging the public to share tips.
As of those announcements, Alejandro Lopez was the only suspect in custody in the death of 21 year old Stanley A. Butler III.
In the aftermath, authorities also noted that the 19-year-old male faced separate charges in an earlier fatal shooting in Waukegan the same day, while stressing there was no known connection between that incident and the killing of the 21-year-old male inside the Evanston home.
The open strands of the Evanston case, additional suspects who fled, a non-random assault inside a residence, linger alongside the fixed facts: Stanley A. Butler III, a 21-year-old Black male from Evanston, killed on a Saturday night, with one arrest announced and others still being sought.
