A 22-year-old Chicago man pleaded guilty yesterday in connection with a shooting during an attempted robbery in Elgin in 2020.
Kayshaune T. Steele has agreed to a sentence of 15 years of imprisonment in the Illinois Department of Corrections in exchange for a guilty plea to the offenses of Aggravated battery with a firearm, a Class X felony, and Aggravated discharge of a firearm, a Class X felony. Steele received an additional year for a previous charge of Aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, a Class 4 felony.
Judge David P. Kliment accepted the plea.
In the late afternoon of March 13, 2020, Steele accosted two people in a parked car in the 200 block of College Street, Elgin, walking up to the front passenger side and displaying a handgun. The victim in the passenger seat crawled into the backseat and Steele got into the vehicle, pointed the gun at the passenger and demanded she give him her handbag. Steele rifled through the bag and found nothing of value. He then pointed the handgun at the backseat passenger and fired a single shot, which struck her in the right hip.
The driver got out of the car, went to the other side and reached for Steele’s handgun. The gun fired again, and Steele and the driver began to fight. Steele then fled on foot.
Steele had previously been charged with aggravated unlawful use of a weapon related to a February 2019 incident in which he was a passenger in a vehicle that was stopped by Elgin police for a traffic violation and was found to be in possession of a loaded Ruger .22- caliber rifle that was not in a case as required by law.
“It is clear from the facts of these two cases that Mr. Steele owned a gun with the intent of causing trouble,” Kane County Assistant State’s Attorney Lori Anderson said after the plea. “He has proven himself a danger to the community.”
Steele was in the second day of his trial on the aggravated unlawful use of a weapon offense when he chose to enter the guilty plea to the two incidents.
The sentence is 15 years for the aggravated battery and aggravated discharge offenses, plus one year for the aggravated unlawful use of a weapon offense, to be served consecutive to the 15-year sentence for a combined sentence of 16 years. Steele must serve at least 85 percent of the 15-year sentence. He is eligible for day-for-day sentencing on the one-year sentence.
