Besides alerting police to shootings (which it did in this case), ShotSpotter can also be used to corroborate what witnesses say. Here’s a straightforward example.
In Massachusetts, to revoke someone’s probation, a court can rely on hearsay only if it “has substantial indicia of reliability.” To assess that, courts will look at, among other things, whether the statement can be corroborated.
Here, a witness told police that Shawn Walker fired two shots at her while she was stopped at a red light. ShotSpotter corroborated the details of the shooting, including time and location. That, coupled with video evidence and a bullet hole in the victim’s car, were enough to support the reliability of the witness’ out of court statement. (A probation officer introduced the video recorded statement the witness made to police.) Walker goes back to prison.
Yesterday the Massachusetts Appeals Court affirmed the revocation. Here is a link to the unpublished decision (2025 WL 1354935): https://128archive.com/Disposition/DownloadDisposition/20694?dispositionId=20708.