A Cook County judge unleashed during a bond court hearing Tuesday for a convicted armed robber who’s freshly accused of firing a gun during a Rogers Park shoot-out when the man was supposed to be on electronic monitoring and home confinement for two separate pending felony cases.
“He was under a seven-year armed robbery sentence, not supposed to be in possession of even a bullet. On house arrest for two cases,” Judge John Lyke said after hearing the latest allegations against Deshawn Gillette.
Gillette previously appeared before Lyke on November 25 when prosecutors charged him with escape from electronic monitoring, but not for the shooting. Another judge later reduced the strict bail conditions Lyke set for the 24-year-old.
“I set his bail at [$250,000] and one of my colleagues thought that, I guess, I made a mistake and now here we go again,” Lyke railed. According to court records, the colleague who reduced Gillette’s bail in the escape case to $50,000 is Judge Charles Beach.
But, Gillette was never able to post the reduced amount because the judge overseeing his pending narcotics case, Michael Hood, ordered him held no-bail for violating the terms of bond by escaping, records show.
Escape and a shoot-out
Late on November 3, a gunman rolled up in a car and opened fire on a group of people who were standing on a street corner in the 7600 block of North Bosworth. The group scattered and dove for cover. Chicago police officers who were keeping an eye on the targeted group via a nearby POD camera saw it all happen.
About 15 seconds later, as the cops continued watching the video feed, Gillette returned to the corner, pulled a handgun from his waistband, and fired a shot down the street toward the gunman’s vehicle, Assistant State’s Attorney Jocelyn Schieve said Tuesday.
There were several innocent bystanders downrange from where Gillette fired the gun, according to Schieve, but none was injured. She said officers in the camera room immediately recognized Gillette, whose face was not covered, from previous encounters.
Cops found six shell casings from three different weapons and a handgun lying near the shooting scene.
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At the time of the incident, Gillette was supposed to be in his house on electronic monitoring for two separate narcotics delivery cases that he picked up while he was on parole for armed robbery last year, Schieve said.
Authorities arrested him a couple of days before Thanksgiving and prosecutors charged him with escape on November 25. Lyke ordered him held in lieu of $250,000 — meaning Gillette would need to pay a $25,000 deposit bond to get out. Then, Beach slashed Gillette’s bail requirements in the case by 80% at a December 14 hearing.
This week, prosecutors charged Gillette with Class X felony aggravated discharge of a firearm and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon by a felon in connection with the November 3 incident.
“Had he adhered to house arrest, maybe he wouldn’t have — number one — got shot at and — number two — returned fire shortly thereafter,” Lyke said Tuesday before pointing out that Gillette faces a mandatory sentence of six to 30-years if he’s convicted of the Class X charge.
The judge then ordered him held without bail.
Another shooter
Last month, prosecutors charged another convicted felon with also firing at the same car during the same incident that Gillette was allegedly involved in.
On November 23, prosecutors said the cops who saw the shooting unfold while watching CPD surveillance camera feeds also identified 31-year-old Sherwin Flowers as one of the men who pulled out guns to return fire at the drive-by shooter’s car.
Flowers, who has been convicted of being a felon in possession of a firearm three separate times, was arrested on November 22, the exact same day he was discharged from parole for his latest narcotics and weapons charges. One of his previous convictions stemmed from an incident in which he allegedly shot someone.
Last month, prosecutors charged him with Class X felony armed habitual criminal in connection with the November 3 shoot-out. Flowers is currently on electronic monitoring after posting a $10,000 deposit bond, according to court records.
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