July death of Ural Durant in Ashburn ruled homicide, but autopsy shows 20-year-old was struck by SUV, not shot

The death of a Ural Jaylin Durant last summer in the Ashburn neighborhood on the Southwest Side has been ruled a homicide, though the 21-year-old was not shot as police initially believed.

On July 29, Durant was standing near an SUV parked in the 2400 block of West 79th Street about 7:15 p.m., Chicago Police said at the time. Two people walked out of a nearby gangway and started shooting at the vehicle, according to police.

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

Durant, whose home address was unknown, was struck by the SUV and was found in the street near where the shooting took place. He was pronounced dead there at 7:44 p.m., according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.

Police initially reported that Durant had been shot in the head. But autopsy results, which were inconclusive at the time of Durant’s death, have since shown that he died of multiple injuries due to an automobile striking a pedestrian, according to the medical examiner’s office. The death was ruled a homicide.

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