Tavon Baylock, the Chicago man who cut off his electronic monitoring bracelet and then escaped to Iowa, has been found guilty of trying to kill two people while he was on the run in the Hawkeye State. A Dubuque County jury convicted Baylock, 25, of two counts of attempted murder, according to a report by Radio Dubuque. He will be sentenced at a later date.
Prosecutors said Baylock opened fire on two men outside a daycare center in Dubuque in June 2022 while he was on the run from Chicago authorities.
Baylock went viral in 2019 with a Facebook Live video that showed him playing with guns in a car and threatening to shoot a Chicago police officer who pulled up next to him in traffic. He eventually received a four-year sentence.
Not long after that case was resolved, a judge put him on electronic monitoring when prosecutors charged him with a new case alleging unlawful use of a weapon by a felon and obstruction of justice. On March 9, 2022, prosecutors say, Baylock cut off his ankle monitor and disappeared.
When sheriff’s officers responded to his home upon receiving an alert from his monitoring band, they were met by his brother. He handed over Baylock’s severed ankle strap and told the officers that Baylock wanted him to give it to them, prosecutors said.
On the evening of June 23, 2022, Baylock drove onto the parking lot of a convenience store in the Iowa town, which lies on the Mississippi River west of Rockford. He got out and spoke with a man. Officials said they separated, and Baylock went to a house and changed clothes.
About 20 minutes later, Baylock drove to another location where the man he had spoken with in the parking lot was sitting in a car with another person. Baylock allegedly got out of his vehicle and began shooting at the man, who ducked and pressed the accelerator of his car, which crashed into a childcare center. The next month, Iowa authorities issued a warrant for Baylock’s arrest on charges of attempted murder, intimidation with a dangerous weapon, reckless use of a firearm, and other counts.
Investigators learned that the car Baylock allegedly drove is registered to a woman in Calumet City. A US Marshals task force staked out her home and arrested Baylock upon seeing him walk out of her residence and drive away in a car. He sped from officers, ran more than 25 stop signs, struck a sheriff’s police squad car, and continued to drive until the vehicle became inoperable, prosecutors said. Police arrested him and allegedly found a loaded handgun under the driver’s seat.
