Tzaddi Cox, a 35-year-old man from Chicago, was killed just after midnight on May 3, 2025, in the city’s Austin neighborhood after what early reports first described as a fatal shooting at the mouth of an alley in the 1200 block of North Massasoit Avenue. Officers responding around 12:15 a.m. found him on the ground with two gunshot wounds to the chest, and he was taken to Mount Sinai Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
A gun was recovered at the scene, but in those first hours the public picture was thin, with police saying only that no one had been taken into custody.
As more details emerged in later reporting, the night took on a sharper and crueler outline. Prosecutors said Cox had stepped out to pick up carryout food for his family and was heading back when two men followed him down Division Street and cut him off near an alley by 1211 North Massasoit. According to that account, one man held him at gunpoint while the other went through his pockets. Cox, who prosecutors said was legally carrying a handgun, fired a single shot in self-defense. The armed robber fired back, striking him twice in the chest. In the chaos, one of the men involved in the robbery was also wounded in the hand before both fled in a red Nissan.
Months later, police announced an arrest. Jaden Pointer Jr., 19, was charged in connection with Cox’s killing and faced multiple first-degree murder charges, including felony murder counts tied to the robbery, according to Chicago police and Fox 32. Prosecutors alleged that Pointer helped set up and carry out the robbery, even though they said he was not the gunman who fired the fatal shots. They said surveillance video, phone GPS data, and his own statements linked him to the crime, and that after the shooting he called 911 from a house on North Hoyne and gave officers a false story about accidentally shooting himself after finding a gun in an alley. During questioning, prosecutors said, he eventually admitted taking part in the robbery and told police he thought they were “just going to grab the guy’s food.” A judge later denied the state’s request to hold him pending trial and ordered him released on electronic monitoring. Public reporting identified the alleged shooter only as an uncharged accomplice, and we did not find any reliable online report showing that a second suspect had been publicly named or separately charged.
