Man shot in head outside child care center in West Pullman dies

A man died Wednesday evening after he was shot in the head earlier this week in the West Pullman neighborhood on the Far South Side.

Deshawn Wakefield, 24, was found lying on the sidewalk and unresponsive at 10:04 p.m. Sunday in the 100 block of West 119th Street, according to Chicago police and the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Wakefield, who lived on the block, was walking down the street when a male standing in an empty lot nearby fired shots at him, police said. He fell to the ground with a gunshot wound to the back of the head.

He was taken in critical condition to Christ Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 6:25 p.m. Wednesday, police and the medical examiner’s office said.

A window at a local child care center, Laughs and Giggles Children’s Academy, was shattered Sunday night by the gunfire. Located at 106 West 119th Street, the center provides child care and Head Start programs for children ages six months to 12-years-old.

Area South detectives were conducting a homicide investigation.