URBANA — A third man has been criminally charged in connection with a shooting last spring on Interstate 74.
One victim was hit by gunfire and another was seriously injured when the car they were in crashed into the median just after 2 a.m. March 26.
Elijah S. Smith, 21, who listed an address in the 200 block of White Oak Court, Champaign, was arraigned Thursday for attempted murder and aggravated battery with a firearm. Judge Brett Olmstead set his bond at $500,000 and continued his case to Friday so that a court-appointed attorney may appear with him.
Smith, who was already in jail on charges of aggravated unlawful use of weapons stemming from his arrest in June, was developed recently as a suspect in the March shooting by Champaign police.
Already charged with attempted murder and aggravated battery with a firearm are Divontae A. Bailey, 20, of Urbana, and Aaron Young, 22, of Champaign. Both are awaiting trial.
A Champaign police report said the victims, a man and a woman, were driving on Bloomington Road near Prospect Avenue when a Chrysler car pulled up beside them and its occupants began yelling at them.
The victims pulled into the nearby Mach 1 gas station and the male driver went inside, and some of the occupants of the Chrysler went in after him.
A second car, a Chevrolet Malibu, arrived at the gas station, and after some of the occupants shuffled between that car and the Chrysler, more men went in the station, where video revealed some of them confronted the driver of the victims' vehicle.
He then got back in his car with the woman and left, with the Chrysler following them on to I-74 as the couple headed east toward Urbana.
Near the Neil Street exit, the Chrysler pulled alongside the victims’ vehicle and multiple shots were fired from both the front passenger seat and the rear seat.
The man driving was hit three times in the upper body, which caused him to lose control and crash. The woman with him was not hit by gunfire but received several injuries related to the crash.
Court records show that Smith has previous juvenile adjudications for residential burglary and criminal trespass to a vehicle.
Attempted murder is a Class X felony carrying penalties ranging from at least six to 30 years in prison with an additional 25 years added on if it’s shown the person charged personally discharged the firearm.
