Bullet holes pocked the driver side of the Toyota Corolla. The side windows were shattered and the windshield was streaked with blood. A pile of bloody clothes lay about 20 feet away near 24th Street and Western Avenue.



Juan Bahena Jr., 24, was sitting in the car when someone in a tan minivan opened fire and struck him in the neck, thigh and buttocks around 4:30 p.m. Sunday. He was pronounced dead at Stroger Hospital. He lived about five miles away, in the 3800 block of West 55th Place, according to the medical examiner.



Bahena was the 500th homicide in Chicago this year, according to data kept by the Tribune. Last year, when violence hit levels not seen in decades, the city reached the milestone in late August. So far in 2017, the number of homicides is down about 7 percent from this time last year.



The Tribune counts all homicides, including cases considered justifiable. The Chicago Police Department does not includes those homicides or ones that occur on expressways. Fatal police shootings also are not counted. As of midnight Saturday, Chicago police had recorded 486 murders in the city this year, compared to 521 for the same period in 2016.



Bahena was among at least 2,718 people shot in Chicago this year, a more than 11 percent decrease from the 3,066 shot during the same time last year, according to Tribune data. Chicago police count incidents, not individual victims. As of midnight Saturday, they had recorded 2,089 incidents versus 2,486 in the same period last year, an almost 16 percent decline.



Bahena was shot on the border between the Little Village and Heart of Chicago neighborhoods. Police roped off the intersection of 24th Street and Western, where shattered glass and shell casings littered the area. On 24th Street, just west of the intersection, six evidence markers stood next to shell casings and a trail of broken glass.



To the east, just north of an auto shop, the Corolla sat parked with its flashers and windshield wipers still on. A small group of neighbors stood on the corner.



Karen Leahy, who lives down the street, had just driven through the intersection from shopping at a local grocery store. She was stunned to find out that she had missed the shooting by a few minutes.



"I'm freaking out because I just went through here," she said.



Leahy, who has lived in the neighborhood for 10 years, said things had calmed down lately. "I was just saying how we hadn't had any gang activity or shootings," Leahy said. "I thought it was getting better."



In the distance, music could be heard from the Riot Fest music festival at Douglas Park. Parking was being sold for $25 a few blocks away.



One man approached the crime scene tape, stared down at the investigators and blurted out, "This is 'First 48' for real."



Among those in the crowd was Ray, a 27-year-old father of one who had just moved back to his old neighborhood from downstate Pontiac.



"This is the first time I've seen something like this since I've been back," said Ray, who declined to give his last name because he feared for his safety. "We've heard gunshots in the past few weeks but nothing like this."



Ray said he knew better than to expect violence to end entirely in the cooler months when there are fewer people out on the streets. "It's never over."