Barine Saro John, a 26-year-old African American man, was shot to death on September 7, 2025, in Chicago's McKinley Park neighborhood. Chicago police said the 26-year-old was found around 5:30 a.m. with a gunshot wound to the upper body on the sidewalk in the 3500 block of South Leavitt Street, just outside the CTA Orange Line's 35th/Archer station; he was pronounced dead at the scene. A CTA worker discovered him near the station entrance, according to early reports.
His death was logged among those lost to gun violence that day.
Investigators initially reported no one in custody, but within days detectives and prosecutors focused on a confrontation that began on the Orange Line and spilled onto the street by the Archer stop. Neighborhood reporting described a sequence that started with harassment on an L platform and ended three stops later with shots fired on South Leavitt. Surveillance footage reviewed by police was said to show words exchanged as a man and woman followed the victim from the station before the shooting.
Chicago police later announced an arrest and charges. Aaron Zawadzki, 21, of the McKinley Park area, was charged with murder in the killing of Barine Saro John, the 26-year-old male victim. Coverage of the charging decision noted a scheduled detention hearing and reported that a single 9mm shell casing was recovered near the station. Broadcast and local outlets attributed the account of the pursuit and confrontation to police and prosecutors.
Memorial and victim-tracking sites subsequently listed Barine Saro John, age 26, among those killed by gun violence in Chicago on September 7, 2025, placing the slaying on the sidewalk in McKinley Park near the Orange Line. These records echoed the official reports of the location and time while inviting community tributes to the 26-year-old male victim.
