On January 12, 2019, 55-year-old Anthony J. Adams, an African American male from Chicago, was caught in a fatal argument over garbage inside a hallway in the 7900 block of South Kingston Avenue in the South Chicago neighborhood.
Shortly after 12:30 p.m., the other man went back to his apartment, retrieved a handgun, and shot Anthony J. Adams in the head.
He was pronounced dead at the scene about fifteen minutes later.
Authorities said he lived in the Roseland neighborhood on the Far South Side, and an autopsy ruled his death a homicide caused by the gunshot wound.
In the days that followed, police identified and arrested a suspect. On January 14, 2019, 62 year old Karl Battiste was charged with first-degree murder in the killing of Anthony J. Adams. A judge ordered him held without bail, and court records listed a subsequent court date set for February 1, 2019.
Early reports from the weekend of the shooting had already noted that the shooter was in custody with charges pending, a detail later confirmed by the filing of the murder charge.
The case did not proceed to a final resolution in court.
In April 2020, while being held in Cook County Jail without bond, Karl Battiste died after testing positive for COVID-19; he had been hospitalized at Stroger Hospital before his death.
With the defendant's death while awaiting trial, the criminal case stemming from the killing of 55 year old Anthony J. Adams effectively ended without a verdict.
