Chicago Area Local News

CHICAGO (CBS) ― Investigators hope fingerprints they lifted from a car found on the Far South Side will help them determine if it is linked to the murder of a doctoral student at the University of Chicago.

Amadou Cisse, 28, who was completing his Ph.D. in chemistry, was shot and killed around 1:25 a.m. Monday morning

Chicago and U. of C. police on Tuesday released a photo and description of the car used as a getaway vehicle after the murder. The car was captured on a security camera located at the U. of C. Medical Center a few blocks from the crime scene.

A tip led police to the car in a parking lot at 2421 W. 102nd St. in the Beverly neighborhood around 11 a.m. Wednesday, police said.

The light-colored sedan has mismatched red doors which match the car on the surveillance video.

Shortly before 1:30 a.m. Monday, a witness saw a gunman fire a shot at Cisse's chest before fleeing in a car, police said. The shooting may have been an attempted robbery, although Cisse's wallet and books were left behind, police said.

There were also two other incidents near the campus around the same time. Just after 12:33 a.m. Monday, a man was chased by someone who fired a shot at him at 6045 S. Woodlawn Ave., about two blocks from where Cisse was shot. At 1:15 a.m., two women were robbed by a man who said he was armed at 924 E. 57th St., closer to the main campus quadrangle. Police are investigating whether the incidents are related to Cisse's slaying.

At the University of Chicago, Cisse was a teaching assistant for general chemistry classes. He was to receive his diploma Dec. 7, but now the university says it will award the degree posthumously.

The Senegalese Embassy in Washington said Cisse was the son of a deceased military officer and his mother, two brothers and a sister live in Dakar, the nation's capital.

Cisse attended Bates College in Lewiston, Maine, where he graduated in 2001 with degrees in chemistry, physics and mathematics.

He was killed near a campus that is in the upscale Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago but borders impoverished parts of the city's South Side. The campus is patrolled by both Chicago police officers and a force of, according to the school, more than 140 state-certified university police officers who have full police powers.

The homicide itself happened in the neighboring community of Woodlawn, which over the past several years has been undergoing redevelopment and has seen an influx of students and others affiliated with the university. The site of Cisse's murder was also less than a block from the Burton-Judson undergraduate dormitory, and a short walk from the university's Law School and Social Service Administration school.

In a letter to university students, President Robert Zimmer said extra precautions had been taken to ensure safety on campus. First, the university police have increased patrols on campus and in the surrounding neighborhood. They have dispatched 50 percent more U. of C. police patrols between 4 p.m. and midnight, and have doubled the number of patrols after midnight. More bicycle patrols have also been added, the letter said.

Two new vans have also been added to the SafeRide late night van service, which transports students for free, the letter said. In addition, a "visible" police substation is being set up on the southern part of the campus until the university police headquarters moves from its current location at 55th Street and Ellis Avenue to a new facility 61st Street and Drexel Avenue, the letter said.

"Let me assure you that we will work to improve campus safety in an ongoing and deliberate way," Zimmer said in the letter. 


cbs2chicago.com's Most Popular Pages

 Slideshow: The Search For Stacy Peterson
 Slideshow: Most Dangerous Toys
 Slideshow: '90s TV Stars Then & Now
 Slideshow: World's Most Bizarre Deaths
 Slideshow: In To Be Out: Gay Celebrities
 Slideshow: Did You Know? Stars From Chicago!

(© MMIX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)