In the afternoon of Tuesday, October 21, 2025, 16-year-old David Mason Jr.—known to friends and family as “Lil Dave”—was fatally shot in Chicago’s West Garfield Park neighborhood. According to authorities, the tragic incident occurred near the intersection of West End Avenue and Keeler Avenue, shortly after 2:30 p.m., when responding officers learned a victim had already been transported from the scene by a private vehicle.
Officers from the Chicago Police Department arrived to investigate the call of a person shot and soon after received notification from Mount Sinai Hospital that a teenage male had been dropped off in the emergency department with multiple gunshot injuries. Medical personnel confirmed the victim was David Mason Jr., who had suffered gunshot wounds to the head, chest and arms and was pronounced dead shortly after arriving at the hospital.
Preliminary police reports reveal that Mason was standing on or near a sidewalk when gunfire erupted from an unknown assailant. At this stage investigators have not determined whether the shooter was on foot or inside a vehicle. No suspects are in custody and no motive has been publicly released. The homicide case is being led by Area Four detectives of CPD.
In the aftermath of the shooting, authorities are urging anyone with information to come forward. Tips can be submitted anonymously via CPDTIP.com or by contacting the 11th District of CPD at (312) 746-8386. Additionally, those leading to an arrest may qualify for a reward through Cook County Crime Stoppers at (800) 535-STOP (7867). The investigation remains active and ongoing.
The loss of “Lil Dave” has left his community in silent shock. A teenager with his whole life ahead of him, Mason’s death underscores the very real risks youth on Chicago’s West Side face every day. Amid the grief, the message from law enforcement is clear: someone out there knows something that could bring justice to this young life lost too soon.
While the city’s West Side neighborhoods have endured so many similar tragedies, each one carries its own weight in heartbreak. Mason’s family and friends remember him by name, by story, by the promise of his future—stopped cold in its tracks by an act of violence that remains unresolved. As the investigation presses on, the hope is that witnesses will step forward and that Mason’s death won’t fade into an all-too-familiar murder statistic.
In the meantime, the community waits and watches: for answers, for action, for resolve. And for Mason’s memory to fuel change, not just mourning—so that Lil Dave doesn’t become just another name, but a moment that stirs people into doing something different.
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