Death of man in July on Southwest Side ruled homicide

The death of a 21-year-old man in the Ashburn neighborhood on the Southwest Side in late July has been ruled a homicide.

Ural J. Durant was standing near an SUV parked in the 2400 block of West 79th Street about 7:15 p.m. July 29 when two people walked out of a gangway and started shooting at the vehicle, according to Chicago Police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

The SUV, which had been reported stolen, sped away and crashed into a building down the street at 79th and Artesian, police said. An unknown number of people inside it ran away.

Durant, whose home address was unknown, was struck by the SUV and was pronounced dead at the scene at 7:44 p.m., authorities said. Police initially said he had been shot in the head.

Autopsy results were pending at the time of Durant’s death, but have since shown that he died of multiple injuries due to an automobile striking a pedestrian, and his death was ruled a homicide, according to the medical examiner’s office.

Nobody is in custody as of Tuesday afternoon, police said.