A 61-year-old man with two previous convictions for attempted murder drove all the way from Georgia to help kill a man on Chicago’s West Side last summer, prosecutors say.
Donnell Simmons faces a charge of first-degree murder in the death of Navell Morris, 28, who was shot multiple times on August 17, 2025, at the corner of Lavergne and Monroe. Morris’ alleged accomplice, James Taylor, was previously charged in the case.
Prosecutors say Simmons drove his black 2019 Kia Sportage from his home in Lithonia, Georgia, on August 15, leaving around 4 p.m. and arriving in Chicago around 2 a.m. the next day. Cell phone location data and license plate reader records along interstate highways are expected to be used as evidence at trial, according to court documents.
In the hours before the shooting, prosecutors allege, Simmons and Taylor communicated by phone at least five times, and that Simmons drove his vehicle past the eventual crime scene three times. Surveillance video from the city’s network of police cameras allegedly captured Simmons’ car circling the area repeatedly in the hour before Morris was killed.
At approximately 11:39 a.m., camera footage showed Morris standing alone in the 4900 block of West Adams Street as Simmons pulled the Kia alongside and Taylor exited the rear passenger door, prosecutors said. Morris ran away with Taylor in pursuit, firing a 10mm semi-automatic pistol repeatedly, according to the allegations.
A witness recorded part of the shooting on her phone and allegedly saw Simmons exit the driver’s seat holding what appeared to be a firearm and enter the alley with a noticeable limp. Prosecutors allege the witness recorded additional gunshots while Simmons was in the alley, out of camera view.
Morris died from multiple gunshot wounds. Investigators recovered both 9mm and 10mm shell casings at the scene.
Following the shooting, the Kia travelled to Rockford, where Ring doorbell camera footage captured both Taylor and Simmons arriving, prosecutors claim. Simmons is then alleged to have re-emerged from the residence carrying a spray bottle and a weighted black plastic bag before opening the rear door of the Kia.
Rockford police learned that the Kia was wanted by CPD in connection with the murder and pulled it over a short time later, with Simmons as the sole occupant, prosecutors said.
A search warrant executed on the vehicle allegedly turned up the black plastic bag, which prosecutors say contained parts of two ghost guns, a 9mm and a 10mm, with their slides and barrels removed and discarded. A fingerprint lifted from the 9mm receiver is alleged to match Simmons.
Simmons was initially released at the traffic stop without being charged, but was arrested months later in Georgia after witnesses identified him from surveillance footage, prosecutors say.
Judge John Hock granted the state’s detention petition, calling Simmons “an extreme threat.”
