A jury has found a 38-year-old DeKalb man guilty of shooting an innocent man in the face during his dinner break from work in 2021.
The jury returned their verdict against Ahmad Steele, 38, after approximately two hours of deliberations following a three-day-long trial. In all, the jury found Steele guilty of one count of Attempt Murder – First Degree and one count of Aggravated Battery with a Firearm. Both counts are a Class X Felony with the Attempt Murder charge carrying a mandatory firearm add-on of twenty-five years up to natural life. Judge Daniel Guerin presided over the trial.
On January 28, 2021, at approximately 7:50pm, West Chicago police officers responded to Mapei Corporation on Industrial Drive for a report of a subject with a facial injury, where they discovered the victim walking around the building’s parking lot suffering from an apparent gunshot wound to his face. Authorities immediately transported the victim to a local hospital for medical attention.
An investigation into the shooting found that the victim had been sitting in his vehicle in the parking lot during his dinner break from Mapei Corporation. At approximately 7:31pm, a Chevrolet Blazer entered the parking lot and parked several spaces away from the victim. The driver of the Chevrolet, later identified as Steele, then exited his vehicle with a shotgun and walked toward the victim’s vehicle. Once at the driver’s side of the victim’s vehicle, Steele raised the shotgun and fired into the vehicle, shooting the victim, whom he did not know, in the face.
After the shooting, Steele initially returned to his vehicle but then went back to the victim’s vehicle and raised the shotgun at the vehicle a second time before returning to his vehicle and fleeing the scene.
On February 6, 2021, Naperville police observed the Chevrolet Blazer suspected to be involved in the shooting driving on Route 59. Officers conducted a traffic stop on the vehicle and took Steele into custody for driving on a revoked license. Steele was charged with Attempt Murder – 1st Degree and Aggravated Battery with a Firearm on February 11, 2021, and appeared in Bond Court the following day where Judge Craig Belford denied bond. He has remained in custody at the DuPage County Jail since that time. The victim, who had undergone five surgeries to reconstruct his jaw, passed away from an unrelated illness in 2023.
“This violent, unprovoked attack inflicted unimaginable physical and emotional pain on an innocent man and forever changed his life,” DuPage County State’s Attnorney Bob Berlin said. “I thank the jury for seeing this attack for what it was and for their service the past few days as well as Judge Guerin for ensuring a fair trial for both sides. I also thank Assistant State’s Attorneys Nick Catizone, Heather Misura and Kelsey Kerr for their efforts in holding Mr. Steele responsible for his actions.”
Steele faces a penalty of between thirty-one years to natural life in the Illinois Department of Corrections.
