Author Harper Lee intentionally places the shooting of Tom Robinson in Chapter 24 so that readers fully understand the injustice and cruelty with which this innocent man has been treated. The excessive shooting of Tom seventeen times is the objective correlative* of the concept of racial bias that has been woven throughout her narrative and certainly exemplified with the trial and the subsequent verdict.
That Tom has no faith in the Maycomb County justice system is evident from his testimony and his reactions while he is on the stand. So, while he is in prison, he despairs and tries to make an escape if any chance occurs. For this shooting scene, Harper Lee prepares the reader early on in her novel in Chapter 10, when the children are given air rifles and their father tells them not to kill any mockingbirds because they harm nothing; all they do is "sing their hearts out for us." Later, in Chapter 25, Mr. Underwood's editorial certainly underscores the cruel injustice dealt to Tom Robinson. Certainly, the tone of this editorial is scathing and acerbic, a tone reflective of Miss Lee's own feelings.
Background information on the writing of To Kill a Mockingbird also informs the reader that the Tom Robinson trial has been based upon the real life trial in Alabama of the Scottsboro Boys, nine black teenagers accused of raping two white women on a train in 1931 [see link below].
*https://web.cn.edu/kwheeler/documents/Objective_Correlative.pdf
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