Tia Bell was gunned down on the night of August 21, 2025, on the 3900 block of West Gladys Avenue in Chicago's Garfield Park, a few miles west of the Loop. She was 27 years old and female; multiple outlets identified her as a Black woman and a mother of nine. According to authorities, she was standing outside with a 26-year-old man when a shooter approached on foot and opened fire. Bell was struck multiple times and rushed to Mount Sinai Hospital, where she was pronounced dead.
The man who was with her was also hit several times and was hospitalized in fair condition.
The attack was one of two shootings that night in the Garfield Park area that left three people dead in separate incidents, underscoring a burst of violence on the West Side. The Cook County medical examiner identified Bell the following day, and local coverage placed the timing of the shooting at around 10:45–10:50 p.m. on Thursday. Community and memorial pages later recorded her death date and location, and a family-organized fundraiser described the sudden loss and the children she left behind.
Police said the shooter fled on foot. As of the initial reports that weekend, no arrests had been announced, and investigators with the Chicago Police Department's Area 4 were handling the case. Subsequent roundups of the week's violence continued to note the lack of suspects in custody.
