Exavier Zurita, 20, male, Hispanic/Latino, was shot in the right hip in the early morning hours of October 5, 2024, and later died in Chicago. Police were called to the 5600 block of West Addison Street in the Portage Park neighborhood after a black sedan bearing gunfire damage dropped him off; he was transported in critical condition and pronounced dead a short time later.
The location and timing of the attack were consistent across multiple reports that placed the incident between about 4:15 and 4:30 a.m. on that stretch of Addison.
Details released publicly were sparse. Police initially withheld further information, and the early summaries emphasized that detectives were still piecing together what led to the shooting, including accounts that a physical altercation preceded the gunfire. Community and memorial pages later identified the victim by name and marked the day as one of mourning for family, friends, and former classmates who remembered him for his warmth and humor. An obituary posted by the funeral home and memorial listings corroborated the date and city of death.
As of the contemporaneous coverage, no suspect had been taken into custody and investigators were seeking leads. Reports from the weekend roundup noted that the circumstances remained unknown at the time, and police updates available in the immediate aftermath did not announce arrests connected to the case.
