An off-duty Chicago police officer, probationary officer Precious Dunn, has been cleared of wrongdoing over the fatal shooting of 39-year-old Leevon Smith outside her home in January 2023. According to the Civilian Office of Police Accountability (COPA), Smith had himself just been attacked by a group of three men further down the block before the confrontation with Dunn turned deadly. The decision matters because it concludes a three-year review into a killing in which the man shot was described as a victim of an assault moments earlier.

Smith had been punched and kicked by three men who, he told police, were attempting to steal his clothes and medicine, with one claiming to have a gun. After the group was scared off by a woman shouting, Smith followed Dunn towards her apartment building and asked to use her phone. The gang reappeared and warned Dunn against helping him, and security footage reportedly captured her lifting her sweater to reveal a holstered gun before the group left. Dunn was then heard warning Smith she would kill him; he replied, "You're gonna have to kill me then," and she responded, "Watch this." Smith is said to have attempted to take her gun before she fatally shot him.