The 45-year-old man who was shot in central Evanston earlier this week died Friday afternoon from a gunshot wound to his head, police said.

Cesario Cox Sr., an Evanston resident, was shot Tuesday at about 5:20 p.m. while on the back porch of a house in the 1900 block of Emerson Street, a block away from Evanston Township High School, Evanston police Cmdr. Joseph Dugan said. Cox was with several other individuals when four men approached through an alley and opened fire, Dugan said. Cox died in Evanston Hospital.

This is the third homicide in Evanston this year.

Investigators do not believe Cox was the intended target of the shooting, which may be in retaliation to a gun-related homicide in north Evanston on Aug. 31, Dugan said. Police have found that multiple individuals who were with Cox at the time of the shooting are linked to a gang opposing the one allegedly involved in the Aug. 31 incident, he said.

“The most likely assumption is that they were targeting those individuals,” Dugan said.

The residence targeted in Tuesday’s shooting was also the location of shots fired in the early hours of Sept. 1, Dugan said. An officer heard several gunshots in the area at about 1:40 a.m. but found nothing on the scene, he said. At about 10:30 a.m., a resident of the 1900 block of Emerson Street reported to police that she had found bullets inside her vehicle.

In response to the trend of gun-related crimes following the Aug. 31 shooting, the Evanston Police Department has implemented a program aimed at reducing violence in Evanston, particularly in the locations of shots fired reports, Dugan said.

Starting this past week, two officers have been deployed each day to those hotspots with the intention of recovering firearms. The officers are tasked with using tips from confidential informants and social media to locate offenders and conduct investigative stops. To address community concern, police will also visit the affected areas — including schools, businesses and parks — to discuss gun violence in the city.

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