Some Chicago Gunshot Victims Don’t Trust Ambulances

When someone like Smith leaves a scene before an ambulance arrives, they’re not counted in CFD’s records, so it’s hard to say how many gunshot victims fall into that group. But research and interviews show that many people opt for alternative transportation options, because of distrust in paramedics, fears about cost, or other reasons. 

When an ambulance takes too long to arrive, Smith said, it makes residents feel like the city and its first responders don’t care. “They need to do better,” he said.

The Fire Department did not respond to requests for comment.

A Decade-Long Data Problem
A Trace analysis of last year’s medical emergency incidents, including accidents, seizures, and shootings through November 19, 2024, found that, in more than one in five cases, Chicago EMS took more than six minutes to respond, the state’s threshold for adequate response time. But it also found that data was missing in over 43,000 incidents. 

“To not put a priority on managing, maintaining, and then setting standards with this data is almost negligence,” said Cheo Patrick, the CEO of a crisis management consultant company who has personal experience with emergency response times in Chicago.  

Since 2013, the Inspector General’s Office has sounded the alarm that CFD has failed to accurately document the data necessary to assess whether it’s meeting the six-minute standard for EMS response times. The Fire Department also still hasn’t implemented several recommendations made by the oversight office.

“This is life-saving city service,” said Inspector General Deborah Witzburg. “The priority here ought to be really high.” Her office made the following recommendations:

·  Create annual public reports on response time performance using percentile measurements.

·  Utilize GPS technology to address inaccurate or blank response times.

·  Consider hiring an internal data analyst to improve data quality.

·  Conduct a geographic analysis, by ward or community, that identifies areas where ambulances aren’t meeting their response time goals.

Five years ago, the Chicago Office of Emergency Management and Communications approved new computer aided dispatch, mobile and analytics software for the city’s 911 Center to improve emergency response times. In 2023, CFD said it was targeting late 2023 to early 2024 for its rollout, but as of February 2025, it had not gone into effect. The Mayor’s Office did not respond to requests for comment.

The Fire Department also said it would partner with Urban Labs at the University of Chicago to analyze response times. But a representative from the university said in an email to The Trace that their collaborative work has focused on “911 emergency communications center operations, occupational wellness, and the intersection between 911 calls and dispatch — particularly calls dispatched to police or to alternative/diversified response teams.” They have not looked at ambulance response times.

Data collection is only getting worse. The Trace’s analysis showed that the amount of missing data grew from 12.3 percent in 2021 to 13.1 percent in 2024 through mid-November. Data transparency is important, said Patrick, the consultant, to maintain the community’s confidence in first responders. 

“As a civilian, you should feel confident in knowing that your life, the life of your loved ones, the life of individuals in your community have value,” he said. “Where’s the level of due care for people who are in dire, traumatic situations?”

Gunshot Victims Take Matters into Their Own Hands
Patrick understands the split-second decision many Chicagoans have to make after being shot.

About 16 years ago, he visited family and friends in the South Shore neighborhood where he grew up. An argument with some residents he didn’t know escalated, and he was shot in his lower leg. Patrick told his friend to drive him to the University of Chicago Medical Center, which was eight minutes away. “Every second counts in those situations,” he said. Just a few years earlier, Patrick’s friend bled out and died from what he thought was a minor gunshot wound to the leg, but which turned out to be a serious hit to the artery. Patrick didn’t want the same thing to happen to him.

He later found out that someone had called 911, but the ambulance took about 15 to 20 minutes to arrive. He was relieved that his friend drove him. 

Nowadays, Patrick said, the increasingly lethal weapons used in shootings make gunfire even harder to survive. That’s why paramedics are crucial. But, he said, first responders have to be more proactive in creating trust between themselves and the community, especially in Black and brown neighborhoods. There’s a tense history, Patrick said, between first responders and the trauma that takes place in these areas.

The Trace’s analysis of gunshot incidents between 2021 and November 2024 showed that areas on the South Side were among the most affected by slow response times. Last year, Ward 9, which includes Chatham, Roseland, Pullman, Washington Heights, West Pullman, and Riverdale, had the highest number of gunshot-related calls to which it took more than six minutes for an ambulance to arrive. During the same time frame, one in five calls in that area had slow response times.

Collecting and analyzing geolocation data, Holland, the national expert, said, can help answer questions like, “Where are the needs not being met in the community?” 

The city can then use that data to justify adding ambulances to CFD’s fleet, reducing ambulance response times, and, ultimately, building trust in a skeptical public. “There’s a big gap in terms of feeling confident and trust with [first responders], to take our lives in their hands and make sure that we’re OK,” Patrick said. “The unknown that you’re walking into, with that situation being life or death, is very scary.”

Rita Oceguera is a reporter at The Trace. Aaron Mendelson contributed data reporting to this story. This article is published courtesy of The Trace.