In a home on Chicago’s West Side, a place that should have been a sanctuary, the lives of two people were violently cut short. Angela L. Johnson, a 47-year-old woman, and Deangelo Johnson, a 27-year-old man, were shot and killed inside a residence in the city’s Austin neighborhood. The incident, which unfolded on a late Thursday night, led to an immediate arrest and left friends and neighbors grappling with the sudden and brutal loss.
Very little has been shared publicly about the
lives of Angela and Deangelo. They were residents of the block where they died, members of a community in one of Chicago’s largest and most historically significant neighborhoods. Angela was a woman in the prime of her life, while Deangelo was a young man with decades of potential ahead of him. Their deaths in a single, violent episode represent a profound tragedy, leaving behind loved ones to navigate a future forever altered by their absence.
The fatal events began to unfold at approximately 10:40 p.m. on September 24, 2026. A witness living on the 800 block of North Parkside Avenue heard the distinct and alarming sound of gunshots. Believing the noise had originated from the basement of a nearby home, the witness immediately dialed 911 to report the shooting. Officers from the Chicago Police Department were dispatched to the scene, arriving to a grim discovery inside the residence.
First responders found both Angela and Deangelo suffering from serious gunshot wounds. Paramedics worked quickly to provide emergency medical care before transporting them to Mount Sinai Hospital. Despite the efforts of medical personnel, their injuries proved to be fatal. Both Angela and Deangelo Johnson were pronounced dead shortly after arriving at the hospital. The Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office later performed autopsies and determined that Angela’s death was caused by a gunshot wound to the arm, while Deangelo had sustained multiple gunshot wounds.
The police response to the 911 call was swift, and a suspect was taken into custody within minutes of the shooting. At 10:48 p.m., officers arrested 36-year-old Wendy Baptisme at the scene. According to police and the medical examiner's office, Baptisme lived on the same block as the victims and was known to them. As detectives from Area 4 began their homicide investigation, they processed the scene and recovered two firearms from inside the home.
Two days after the shooting, the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office approved charges against the suspect. On September 26, 2026, Wendy Baptisme was formally charged with two felony counts of first-degree murder in the deaths of Angela and Deangelo Johnson. He was scheduled to appear for a detention hearing at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse the following day, where a judge would determine the conditions of his pre-trial custody.
As of late September 2026, the case against Wendy Baptisme had entered the Cook County court system. The rapid arrest and subsequent charges marked a decisive step by law enforcement, transitioning the case from an active crime scene investigation to a matter for the courts. While an arrest has been made, the motive and the precise sequence of events that led to the deaths of Angela and Deangelo Johnson remain part of the ongoing legal process, which their loved ones hope will ultimately bring a measure of justice.
