Lamarr Barber, 42, a Black male, was killed during a confrontation inside a business on the 7000 block of South Damen Avenue in Chicago’s West Englewood neighborhood on Friday, May 23, 2025. Shortly after 4:24–4:25 p.m., an argument inside the store escalated between Barber and two men; one of the men, described by police as 38 years old, produced a firearm and opened fire.
Multiple outlets placed the scene at City Smoke, 7050 South Damen, while another described it as a gas station at the same block; in each account, the encounter began as an argument that turned violent.
Barber, identified by the Cook County medical examiner as a resident of the 2000 block of West 71st Street, was struck several times—including wounds to the chest, head, and back—and was pronounced dead at the scene. The alleged gunman was also wounded in the hand during the struggle, transported to Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, and placed into police custody, while the second offender fled on foot. Area 1 detectives were investigating the case in the immediate aftermath.
Authorities said one suspect was in custody on the day of the shooting, and contemporaneous reporting noted that charges had not yet been filed as of press time; the second suspect remained at large. Memorial and incident-tracking pages subsequently linked the case to those initial reports but did not add later charging updates, and no public filings confirming charges were found in the immediate days following the homicide.
