Man Found Dead In Evanston Backyard Shot 'Numerous' Times: Police

EVANSTON, IL — A Chicago man with several gunshot wounds was found dead Friday night near a park in Evanston, authorities said. Someone had called police around 8 p.m. to report gunfire in the area of Twiggs Park near the intersection of Simpson Street and Dodge Avenue, according to police. Officers checked out the scene but did not find anyone who had been shot at the time.

Angel J. Miranda, 33, of the 2800 block of South Central Park Avenue, in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood, was visiting nearby friends, police said. Officers were again dispatched to the area around 9:30 p.m. after Miranda's friends found his body lying in a backyard behind a home in the 1800 block of Simpson Avenue, according to police.

Miranda had been shot numerous times in the chest and abdomen. He was pronounced dead at the scene shortly before 10 p.m., and his death was ruled a homicide caused by multiple gunshot wounds, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office.

There were indications at the scene that Miranda was the victim of a homicide, Evanston police Cmdr. Ryan Glew. He said Miranda's friends have been interviewed and the killing "appears to be an isolated incident" that took place around the time of the initial call of shots being fired. No one was in custody Saturday.

Miranda's homicide was Evanston's first of 2019. On Jan. 26, Larry Cox, 56, died of complications from a Dec. 30 shooting about 700 meters east of where Miranda was found dead, according to police and the medical examiner's office. Cox was the third victim of a homicide within Evanston's borders in 2018, along with 20-year-old Yakeez Semark, shot to death in February, and 49-year-old Tanuel Major, a homeless woman believed to have been bludgeoned in a church alcove in November. A pair of 18-year-old men face first-degree murder charges in connection with Semark's death, which investigators believe resulted from an attempted marijuana robbery. No one yet faces charges related to the other two killings.

Evanston police are being assisted by members of the North Regional Major Crimes Task Force with the investigation. Anyone with information about the incident was asked to contact the detective bureau at 847-866-5040 or send a text message starting with "EPDTIP" to 274637 ("CRIMES").