15 years for man who shot a witness during North Side robbery

Chicago — A suburban man has been sentenced to 15 years for shooting a witness and firing a gun at a victim during a series of robberies on the North Side in October 2020.

Marshall Delvalle, 35, pleaded guilty to aggravated battery by discharging a firearm, armed robbery, and aggravated battery of a police officer before Judge Michael Hood, according to court records. Hood sentenced him to 15 years on each count to be served concurrently.

Marshall Delvalle | Chicago Police Department

The robberies began around 9 a.m. on October 2, 2020, when a man armed with a baseball bat tried to rob a victim outside his home in the 7000 block of North Rockwell. The victim’s wife emerged as two men began struggling, and Delvalle got out of a nearby car with a gun, prosecutors said.

Delvalle allegedly pointed the gun at the woman and demanded her purse. He then shot at the husband as the man ran from the scene and fired on a witness who stepped out to see what was happening. The witness was shot in the foot.

Two days later, a 32-year-old Lyft driver rolled up behind an unoccupied vehicle in the 2700 block of West Rosemont. Delvalle and another man suddenly appeared outside the victim’s car and demanded their money and phone at gunpoint, prosecutors alleged.

After getting the items, Delvalle fired gunshots into the hood of the victim’s vehicle, and the offenders drove away in the car that had been unoccupied. Delvalle’s girlfriend later told police that she was asleep in the back seat of the vehicle while the Lyft driver was being robbed.

The Lyft driver had a surveillance camera system in his car that recorded images of the victim raising his hands and giving Delvalle his property, prosecutors said. It also allegedly recorded Delvalle firing a gun into the man’s car.

Police later learned that the Lyft driver’s credit cards were used at a convenience store in Park City, a small town in the far north suburbs where Delvalle lived. Park City cops recognized Delvalle from the video, which allowed Chicago cops to assemble photo line-ups for the various victims to review.

Three days after the Lyft driver was robbed, Chicago cops saw a tan Mercury Marquis that looked like the one used in the robberies traveling near the intersection of Devon and Western. Police tried to block it in, but the driver reversed into a squad car, drove toward two officers who were out of their vehicle, and struck two more CPD units before getting away, prosecutors said. The officers jumped out of the way to avoid being hit, but one of them identified Delvalle as the driver in a photo line-up.

At the time of the robberies, Delvalle had recently completed a five-year sentence for aggravated fleeing and burglary in Lake County. He has previous convictions for possessing a stolen motor vehicle, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, and felony disorderly conduct.

Delvalle arrived at Stateville Correctional Center last week. His projected parole date has not been posted on the Illinois Department of Corrections website as of Tuesday morning.