A Chicago man wearing an ankle monitoring device and facing 160 charges, including murder, faces new shooting charges after he was allegedly found with two guns in a stolen car. He was indicted.
Police said Wednesday that Torrey Lewis, who had a long criminal history, was found injured inside a stolen car in the parking lot of an auto parts store in Dalton, a town in the south suburbs of Chicago. Officers found a rifle and handgun in the passenger seat, and a second man was found shot in the back seat, WLS-TV report.
Police said Lewis was involved in a gunfight that left four people injured. A gunfight occurred when multiple people jumped out of two cars and began shooting at each other.
The Cook County Sheriff’s Department acknowledged that the suspect was being monitored on an electronic surveillance system, but noted that the suspect was on a “free day” and was not being monitored at the time of the shooting.
The “freedom days” consist of two days a week automatically given to suspects and convicts who wear ankle monitoring devices, and are based on the state’s recently enacted crime-fighting software SAFE- The state also eliminated cash bail, a requirement included in Act T. Lincoln.
Illinois Governor JB Pritzker speaks during an interview in Chicago, February 23, 2023. (Christopher Dilts/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
Authorities examined the monitor’s GPS data and determined that Lewis was either being chased or was allegedly chasing someone in a stolen car.
According to tracking data, Lewis left his home at 8:48 a.m. and “traveled at high speeds throughout the south suburbs, sometimes exceeding 100 miles per hour, until he arrived at the scene of the shooting.” southland journal report.
Lewis was placed on electronic monitoring (EM) while awaiting trial on murder charges in the shooting that killed Timothy Horace in July. Horace, who was disabled and in a wheelchair, was shot in front of his girlfriend outside a Country Club Hills movie theater in 2017.
The suspect was initially held in jail. However, in May 2020 his bond was reduced and he was placed on EM after he paid the required 10 percent.
Lewis is currently charged with felony aggravated unlawful use of a weapon in the incident in Dalton. However, he is currently hospitalized due to his injuries.
This case is just another example of how bad the Democratic-led SAFE-T Act has been for the state.
On its first day, Illinois county attorneys and sheriffs denounced the law as “absurd” for its “disorganized” results, as judges are required to release many repeat offenders after trial.
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