Man beaten to death in Grand Boulevard — Chicago’s first homicide of 2022

A man beaten to death early Saturday morning in Grand Boulevard on the South Side is Chicago’s first recorded homicide of the year.

About 4:30 a.m., Allen Jackson, 38, was fighting with an unidentified male in the 5000 block of South State Street when his attacker struck him in the head with a blunt object and fled, Chicago police said.

Witness told officers the man was unresponsive when he was found, police said.

Jackson was taken to the University of Chicago Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office said.

No one was in custody.

The killing was the city’s first of the new year, following a violent 2021 that saw more than 800 murders, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.