Latonio Malik Meeks, 27, died after he was stabbed in the neck during an argument inside an apartment in the first block of North Lotus Avenue in the Austin neighborhood on Chicago's West Side on the night of Wednesday, May 1, 2024. The Chicago Police Department investigated, and Area Four detectives were assigned to the case.
According to Chicago police, Meeks was arguing with a woman in the apartment around 10:30 p.m. Police said that during the argument he put his hands around her neck, and that she then pulled a knife and stabbed him in the neck. He was taken to Stroger Hospital in critical condition and died there, police and the Cook County medical examiner's office said. The woman was also hospitalized, with bruising to her face and body.
That account came from police in the first hours after the stabbing.
No name was released for the woman, and no report could be found saying whether she was arrested, charged, or released after detectives and prosecutors reviewed the case. No public statement could be found saying that his death was ruled self-defense or otherwise justified. The Chicago Sun-Times homicide tracker, which lists every homicide in the city, counts his death as a homicide.
Beyond his name and age, almost nothing about Latonio Meeks has been made public. No obituary, memorial page, fundraiser or family statement could be found, and news coverage did not describe his relationship to the woman, his work, his family or whether he lived in the apartment. People who loved him have not been heard from in any coverage found for this account.
The first block of North Lotus Avenue sits at the southern end of Austin, just north of Madison Street, in a part of the West Side lined with brick apartment buildings and two-flats. Austin is Chicago's largest community area by population and has long carried one of the heaviest burdens of violence in the city. Neighbors in a crowded apartment building on a weeknight may well have heard the argument before it turned deadly.
Chicago recorded about 590 homicides in 2024, down from about 620 in 2023 and well below the roughly 800 of 2021, the deadliest year in a quarter century. Chicago police reported clearing 56 percent of homicides in 2024, though that figure counts cases closed without charges.
Cases like this one, in which police describe a struggle between two people who knew each other, sometimes end without charges after prosecutors weigh claims of self-defense. Whether that happened here has not been made public, and the outcome of the investigation into Meeks's death remains unknown.
No arrest, criminal charge or court case connected to the death of Latonio Malik Meeks could be found in news archives or public records. More than 2 years later, there is no public sign that anyone has been held responsible. Anyone who was in or near the apartment building on North Lotus Avenue on the night of May 1, 2024, who knew Latonio Meeks and the people around him, or who knows how the investigation ended, may be able to help. Even a small detail, such as a name overheard, a car seen leaving the area or a conversation remembered, can help detectives move a case forward. Anyone with information can call the Chicago Police Department's anonymous tip line at (833) 408-0069 or submit a tip online at CPDTIP.com, or contact Cook County Crime Stoppers at (800) 535-STOP (7867).
