Chicago Police allegedly solved the murder of Zachary Stoner, a YouTube journalist killed in 2018, but prosecutors declined to bring charges leading law enforcement to drop the case, according to a report from the Associated Press.

Known as ZackTV, the deceased video journalist was known for his gangland reporting which he called, “Hood CNN” and his up-close stories of the lives and deaths of gang members as well as affiliated rappers. Stoner was killed in the early hours of May 30 in Chicago, Illinois. 

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Police records showed that members of Perry Avenue gang had been arrested by investigators in a bid to solve Stoner’s murder. The gang members from Chicago’s South Side were released later. Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office said the reason was because the YouTuber was because the two sides were allegedly “mutual combatants”. The term is a disputed legal concept that harks back to the days of pre-arranged duels and gunfights in the Wild West starting sometime in the 17th Century. 

Stoner’s death raises questions of whether Chicago’s gangs will go unpunished if it is unclear about who shot first and who fired back in self-defense. 

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The prosecutor’s office said that they didn’t have enough evidence to file charges and said that the police agreed with their rationale. They had also mentioned “inconsistent witnesses” as a reason for not going after the suspected murderers. 

Based off of eyewitness accounts, mobile phone location data and ballistics from the bullet that killed Stoner, the police arrested fie men between 2018 and 2019 ranging from the ages of 19 to 22. 

Prior to his death, Stoner’s work was seen as profitable but fraught with danger. In a video posted by the YouTuber, he said that he was likely going to be targeted by a gang for his reporting, which he explained was why he always carried a gun with him.