An off-duty officer reported gunfire within minutes, but Kiara Jenkins was not found until friends searched for her after church.
CHICAGO, Ill. — The murder charge filed in the January killing of Kiara Jenkins has brought renewed attention to a separate question raised by her neighbors and friends: Why did nearly 10 hours pass between an early-morning report of gunfire and the discovery of the mother of five outside her Woodlawn home?
Chicago police say Eddie Jenkins, the victim’s estranged husband, has been charged with first-degree murder in her death. Prosecutors allege he shot Kiara Jenkins, 36, after confronting her behind her apartment early Jan. 18, then left the area and took their children to church. Eddie Jenkins, 45, is being held while awaiting trial and is presumed innocent. His attorney disputes that the available video proves he was the person near the apartment and says the state has not presented forensic evidence tying him to the shooting.
The unanswered response questions began at 4:54 a.m., when an off-duty Chicago police officer who lived on the block called 911 after being awakened by at least five shots near 64th Street and Drexel Avenue, according to reporting based on police and law enforcement sources. The caller told a dispatcher that the sound appeared to come from the alley and provided a badge number in an effort to direct responding officers. Police said officers handled the call and closed it at 5:08 a.m. Kiara Jenkins was not found at that time.
Authorities have not publicly released a full account of where the responding officers drove, what areas they searched, whether they left their vehicle or what information they received from dispatch. Neighbors later questioned whether a squad car entered the alley where Jenkins was eventually found. Some said security cameras pointed toward the passage and would have recorded a police vehicle traveling through it. The department has not publicly released video from the initial response or announced the results of any internal review examining how officers handled the call.
Other sounds continued after the gunfire. Neighbors reported hearing a car alarm repeatedly sounding in the alley for more than 40 minutes. One resident told CBS News Chicago that the alarm woke people nearby and later wondered whether it might have been connected to an attempt to attract attention. Police have not said whether Kiara Jenkins’ keys were found beside her or whether investigators determined what activated the alarm. Her vehicle, purse and identification were still at the property, according to reports about the initial investigation.
While residents were trying to make sense of the disturbance, prosecutors say Eddie Jenkins had already left the block. The state alleges that he arrived in a white Buick Enclave before the shooting, parked about a block away and walked toward the rear of his estranged wife’s apartment. Neighbors heard a man and woman arguing, followed by several shots and sounds of a woman in pain, prosecutors said. Surveillance video allegedly captured a man running through the alley and returning to the Buick before it drove away.
According to prosecutors, Jenkins returned to his own home and awakened the children who were staying there. He then took them to the family’s church. Kiara Jenkins normally arrived at about 5 a.m. every Sunday to help prepare the church for services, so her absence was noticeable. Friends were also surprised that Eddie Jenkins had arrived early with the children but without Kiara. The contrast between the family’s normal Sunday routine and what they saw that morning led two friends to leave the church and check on her.
The friends went to the Drexel Avenue apartment, knocked and received no response. Rather than ending their search at the front door, they moved around the property and found Kiara Jenkins outside near the alley. The discovery occurred at about 2:44 p.m., nearly 10 hours after the off-duty officer’s call. Her friends contacted emergency services. Jenkins, who had suffered multiple gunshot wounds, was pronounced dead at the scene. Prosecutors have not said whether earlier medical intervention could have saved her, and no verified public finding establishes how long she remained alive after the shooting.
The uncertainty is important because some neighbors initially expressed fear that a faster search might have changed the outcome. That possibility has not been established by medical evidence released to the public. Authorities have not disclosed a precise time of death beyond placing the shooting at about 4:30 a.m. The known facts show that a caller accurately reported several gunshots from the direction of the alley, officers closed the call minutes later and Jenkins remained undiscovered until her friends went looking for her that afternoon.
Friends also called Eddie Jenkins after finding her. Prosecutors allege he requested a video call and took a screenshot when Kiara’s body was visible. They have not explained whether that digital image contributed to the eventual murder charge or how investigators obtained it. The state’s broader evidence includes neighborhood surveillance recordings, identification by witnesses, the movement of a Buick associated with Jenkins and testimony about the couple’s relationship. Police have not announced the recovery of the gun used in the homicide.
The killing remained without a publicly identified suspect for more than five months. Police attempted to stop Jenkins in the Buick on Jan. 29, according to prosecutors, but he allegedly drove away as officers approached. Investigators later located the vehicle at Douglass Park and arrested Jenkins on June 29. He was carrying a 9 mm firearm at the time, prosecutors said, but authorities do not believe it was the weapon used in Kiara’s killing. Jenkins faces misdemeanor charges related to the alleged flight and possession of a concealed gun in the park in addition to the murder count.
The murder prosecution and the questions about the January police response involve different standards and processes. Prosecutors must prove the criminal charge against Jenkins beyond a reasonable doubt. Any evaluation of the officers’ actions would examine whether they followed dispatch information, department policies and reasonable search procedures. Chicago police have not announced discipline, a formal finding of misconduct or a completed investigation tied to the shots-fired response. The absence of such a public finding means the handling of the call should not be described as negligence as an established fact.
The location also became part of a wider debate about how Chicago receives and investigates reports of gunfire. The neighborhood had previously been served by ShotSpotter, an acoustic detection system the city stopped using in 2024. Some coverage noted that history after Jenkins’ death, but officials have not established that the technology would have detected these particular shots, produced a more precise location or led officers to find her. The 911 call already provided police with the approximate area and identified the alley as the apparent source.
The strongest account of the response gap therefore comes from a combination of documented times and witness observations rather than a completed official review. The shooting was placed at about 4:30 a.m. The off-duty officer called at 4:54 a.m. Police said the response was closed at 5:08 a.m. Friends found Jenkins at about 2:44 p.m. What officers saw or did during those 14 minutes, and why the alley search did not locate her, remain matters the department has not fully explained in public.
For Kiara Jenkins’ friends, their concern at church became the action that ended the long period of uncertainty. Their decision to leave the service, go to her home and search beyond the unanswered doorway led to the discovery. That sequence is now part of the prosecution’s case because the state alleges Eddie Jenkins had already joined the same church gathering after committing the shooting. His defense says the government has not established that he was the figure shown near the crime scene.
A Cook County judge ordered Jenkins detained while the case moves through pretrial proceedings. No trial date has been publicly announced. The murder case will determine whether prosecutors can prove their allegations against him, while the response gap remains unresolved in the public record. Chicago police have not released a detailed after-action report explaining why the initial gunfire call ended without officers finding Kiara Jenkins.
Author note: Last updated July 30, 2026.