Joseph Wayne Luttinen, age 29, a White male identified by contemporary records as being from Hobart, Indiana, was fatally shot on May 1, 2015, in Chicago’s North Lawndale neighborhood. Although the killing occurred in Chicago, published accounts do not identify Chicago as his residence; news coverage and obituary records place him in Hobart. The shooting unfolded at about 5 p.m.
in the 4200 block of West Grenshaw Street, where three people were gathered in or around a vehicle when an attacker approached on foot and suddenly opened fire.
Luttinen was sitting in the driver’s seat of a pickup truck when he was struck in the head by gunfire. The truck was left riddled with bullets as emergency personnel converged on the scene. He was rushed to Mount Sinai Hospital, but the injuries proved fatal, and the Cook County medical examiner’s office recorded his death at 5:34 p.m. Another victim was found unresponsive on the ground and was pronounced dead at the scene; the Chicago Sun-Times identified that victim as Justin M. Banks of Hebron, Indiana. A third person suffered a gunshot wound to the leg and was taken to Saint Anthony Hospital, where the condition was stabilized.
The available accounts portray the attack as a rapid street shooting rather than a prolonged confrontation. Police said the assailant walked up to the group, fired, and then fled, leaving investigators with two fatalities, a wounded survivor, and a heavily damaged pickup truck. Initial breaking-news reports contained preliminary estimates about the victims that differed from the identifications released afterward; later records established Luttinen’s identity and date of death. There is no reliable reporting located that establishes a motive for the shooting or explains why the victims were targeted.
Outside the circumstances of the killing, obituary records provide a picture of Luttinen’s life before the violence. He was born February 14, 1986, in Kankakee, Illinois, worked as a carpenter through Carpenters Local Union #1005, and belonged to First United Methodist Church of Hobart. His survivors included his parents, Bruce and Carol Luttinen, his daughter McKenzie Lee Luttinen, numerous siblings and other relatives, and people close to him. Private funeral services were conducted through Rees Funeral Home in Hobart, and he was buried at Calumet Park Cemetery.
As for the investigation, the contemporaneous news reports did not name the shooter. Police described the attacker only as an unidentified gunman or offender who approached on foot, fired the shots, and fled, and ABC7 reported at the time that Chicago police were investigating. The online reporting located for the case does not identify a suspect or document an arrest, criminal charge, trial, guilty plea, or conviction specifically connected to Luttinen’s killing. Accordingly, the publicly available material reviewed leaves the homicide without a reported prosecution or publicly named perpetrator; that absence in published coverage should not be taken as definitive proof that investigators never developed additional information that was not made public.
