The man charged with shooting a 3-year-old and trying to kill the boy’s mother as the victims sat in a car last month is an 11-time convicted felon who was on felony bail for manufacture-delivery of fentanyl at the time of the shooting, prosecutors said Friday.
Andy Wallace is the tenth person charged with killing or shooting — or trying to shoot or kill — someone in Chicago this year while awaiting trial for a felony. The alleged crimes involve at least 17 victims, four of whom have died.
The woman had just parked near her home on the 4500 block of West Congress when a white SUV pulled up alongside her around 8:30 a.m. on February 22, according to police and Assistant State’s Attorney Loukas Kalliantasis.
Before the woman got out of her car, a man leaned out of the SUV with a black handgun and opened fire on her vehicle. The SUV then sped away.
Kalliantasis said the woman, 28, recognized the shooter as Wallace, whom she knew from the neighborhood.
Her child, who was in the woman’s back passenger seat, was struck below his left eye by a bullet fragment. Kalliantasis said the woman was not injured, but there were two bullet holes in her sweater.
Several bullets also pierced her car’s windows and body, he said. Police found seven shell casings at the scene. ShotSpotter gunfire detectors recorded ten shots fired, according to Kalliantasis.
Prosecutors charged Wallace with attempted first-degree murder, aggravated battery by discharging a firearm, and aggravated discharge of a firearm into an occupied vehicle.
Kalliantasis said Wallace has 11 adult felony convictions, primarily for narcotics, and a twelfth felony juvenile adjudication for robbery.
Assistant Public Defender Jeremy Lemmons argued that the state’s case is built entirely on one woman’s identification of Wallace as the shooter.
Nonetheless, Judge David Navarro agreed to grant the state’s motion to hold Wallace without bail.
The “not horrible” series
This report continues our coverage of individuals who have been accused of murder, attempted murder, or shooting firearms toward people while on bond for a pending felony case. CWBChicago began our series of reports in November 2019 after Cook County Chief Judge Timothy Evans publicly stated, “we haven’t had any horrible incidents occur” under the court’s bond reform initiative.
The actual number of murders and shootings committed by people on felony bail is undoubtedly much higher than the numbers seen here. Since 2017, CPD has made arrests in less than 5% of non-fatal shootings and 33% of murders, according to the city’s data. You can support CWBChicago’s work by becoming a subscriber today.
