Ex-Boyfriend Charged With Murder Over Fatal Shooting In Zion

ZION, IL — A Zion man beat his ex-girlfriend with a gun, fled before police arrived and followed his former partner to another house where he shot her dead, authorities said.

Jaylen Crump, 20, was pronounced dead Wednesday from a single gunshot wound to the head, according to the Lake County Coroner's Office.

Her ex-boyfriend, a 28-year-old called Michael White, has been charged with murder in connection with her death and is due to appear in court Thursday morning.

According to police, officers were dispatched to the 2700 block of Hebron Avenue around 12:15 a.m. for a report of a man with a gun attacking a woman.

When they arrived, they found Crump, who told them that White, her ex-boyfriend, had hit her in the face with a gun, police said.

Police issued a countywide alert for White, who was gone before they arrived. At her request, the woman relocated to a house in the 1600 block of Barnard Court, authorities said.

Five hours later, Zion police got a 911 call from a third party at a different location that White had shown up at the Barnard Court address and was threatening Crump, according to police.

When police arrived at the home, the person who answered the door did not know that White was in the house, but consented to a search.

"For safety purposes, officers began evacuating the 15 occupants, to include multiple children, that were reportedly inside so that the residence could be searched," police said in a statement. "During this evacuation, a single gunshot was heard from inside a bedroom."

Officers ordered anyone in the bedroom to come out, and eventually White emerged and gave up the gun he had with him, according to police.

Police said they found Crump dead inside the bedroom with a gunshot wound to her head, which the coroner's office determined was the cause of her death.