Robert Sanders Vaughn, a 28-year-old African-American man known to his loved ones as "Winnie," was shot and killed in Chicago, Illinois, on Friday, July 1, 2016. His death was part of a year marked by a significant increase in violence across the city, which recorded more than 750 homicides, a number not seen in two decades.
Those who knew Robert remember him for his loving and funny personality, his unforgettable laugh, and a bright, beautiful smile. He attended Hartigan Dusable Elementary and later George Washington Carver High School. On memorial pages, friends and family shared an outpouring of grief, with one relative writing, "My son was loved by many...yet he died so young." Others recalled his outgoing nature and positive energy, leaving messages like, "it's not a day dat goes by dat u dont cross my mind I Love You Forever Brother."
The circumstances of Vaughn's death are rooted in the city's complex gang conflicts. In later federal court testimony, his own brother, Alex Vaughn, identified Robert as a member of the Gangster Disciples street gang and an affiliate of a faction known as the "Goonie Boss" gang. Alex Vaughn, the founder of the Goonies, stated that his brother's murder was the reason he decided to leave the lifestyle behind.
On the day of his death, Robert Vaughn was in the Englewood neighborhood on the South Side. Around 12:50 p.m., he was on a porch in the 700 block of West 66th Place when a vehicle pulled up. According to police reports from the time, someone exited the car, fired shots at Vaughn, and then fled the scene. He sustained multiple gunshot wounds to his body. Paramedics transported him to Stroger Hospital, where he was pronounced dead at 1:33 p.m.
The investigation into the homicide was handled by Area South detectives of the Chicago Police Department. In the immediate aftermath, no one was taken into custody, and the case quickly became entangled in a series of retaliatory acts. Court documents filed in a later federal racketeering case against the Goonie Boss gang revealed the violent fallout from Vaughn's murder. An affidavit stated that a confidential informant told investigators that just hours after Vaughn was killed, another man, Jolicious Turman, allegedly shot and killed Kenneth Whittaker in retaliation.
This cycle of violence was a central theme in the federal case that ultimately targeted the Goonie Boss gang for numerous murders, robberies, and drug trafficking. While the trial led to convictions of several members for various crimes, including the retaliatory murder of Whittaker, no charges have ever been announced specifically for the killing of Robert Sanders Vaughn.
As of May 2023, his murder remains officially unsolved by the Chicago Police Department. There is no information about a reward being offered for tips leading to an arrest. The case stands as a painful example of the hundreds of unsolved homicides from a particularly violent year in Chicago, leaving a family to grieve a life cut short and a community to remember a man they affectionately called Winnie.
