Death of man in July in Avalon Park ruled suicide

A man who was found dead with a gunshot wound to the head after a fire in an automotive repair shop in the South Side Avalon Park neighborhood in July committed suicide, an autopsy found.

Firefighters responded about 6:40 a.m. July 5 to the blaze at the business in the 8000 block of South Stony Island, according to Chicago Fire Department Cmdr. Curtis Hudson.

The 56-year-old man was found dead after the fire was extinguished less than an hour later, according to Hudson and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

An autopsy at the time did not rule on his cause and manner of death pending further investigation, but has since found that he died of a gunshot wound to the head and his death was ruled a suicide, according to the medical examiner’s office.