A 23-year-old Chicago man accused of shooting a taxi driver during an attempted armed robbery Tuesday in Aurora has been charged with attempted murder.
The taxi driver is expected to live, according to police.
Deonta X. Nabors, 23, of the 3700 block of California Avenue in Chicago, is charged with attempted first-degree murder, a class X felony; aggravated battery involving the discharge of a firearm, a class X felony; aggravated discharge of a firearm in the direction of another person, a class 1 felony; attempted armed robbery with a firearm, a class 1 felony; attempted armed robbery involving the discharge of a firearm, a class 1 felony; attempted armed robbery involving the discharge of a firearm causing great bodily harm or death, a class 1 felony; aggravated unlawful use of a loaded firearm in a vehicle, a class 2 felony; attempted robbery, a class 3 felony; unlawful use or possession of a firearm by a convicted felon, a class 3 felony; and aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, a class 4 felony, according to Kane County court records.
Nabors was also charged with obstructing identification, a class A misdemeanor. That charge was in connection to his arrest in Aurora, said police spokesman Dan Ferrelli. Nabors is accused of repeatedly lying about his identity to police during a traffic stop that led to his arrest, according to a news release from the Aurora Police Department.
As class X felonies, the charges of attempted murder and aggravated battery with a firearm call for enhanced penalties if Nabors is convicted, police said in the news release.
“Without lawful justification and with the intent to kill” the other man, Nabors shot him, thereby causing great bodily harm, according to charging documents, which state that Nabors “took a substantial step in the commission of first-degree murder” when he shot the taxi driver.
Bail for Nabors has been set at $2 million, according to court documents. Police said his bail was set during Thursday morning bond call at the Kane County Branch Court inside the Aurora Police Department, and they expect he will be transferred to the Kane County Correctional Center in St. Charles on Friday morning. He is next scheduled to appear in court at 9 a.m. Jan. 26 in Courtroom 319 at the Kane County Judicial Center.
More Top Picks Anchors
Aurora police on Wednesday morning announced they had a suspect in custody in connection to the shooting and attempted robbery of the taxi driver.
About 12:10 a.m. Tuesday, officers found the 49-year-old driver in his taxi with a gunshot wound that was not life-threatening, on the 400 block of Grant Street, police said in a news release.
The driver picked up a fare, later identified as Nabors, minutes earlier at a gas station at North Avenue and Broadway Avenue, according to police.
When the taxi driver dropped off the passenger at his requested location on Grant Street, the passenger demanded the driver’s money, then shot him in the chest and ran away, according to police.
At some point during the attempted robbery, the taxi driver accelerated and crashed into an unoccupied SUV parked nearby, police said.
The driver’s only apparent injuries were from the shooting, according to police. Aurora Fire Department paramedics took the driver to an Aurora hospital for treatment. The passenger did not get away with any money or valuables, according to police.
Police said they took Nabors into custody about 7:39 p.m. Tuesday, when Aurora police stopped a 2001 Ford Explorer in which Nabors was a passenger at Marion Avenue and Fifth Street for expired registration. An officer noticed that Nabors resembled the man wanted for the robbery and shooting of the taxi driver, so he asked Nabors for his identification, according to police.
“It took three separate attempts before Nabors gave his factual information which resulted in the obstructing police charge,” police said in the news release.
Police gave a verbal warning about the Explorer’s registration status to its driver, a 32-year-old Joliet man, according to the news release.
Police have not yet found the gun used in the shooting but are continuing to investigate, Ferrelli said. Police are not disclosing why Nabors was in Aurora on Tuesday, Ferrelli said.
Nabors’ past convictions as an adult include domestic violence in 2012, assault in 2012 and 2014, criminal trespass in 2014, possession of a controlled substance in 2015, and retail theft in 2016, according to Cook County court records.
Illinois Department of Corrections records indicate that Nabors was on parole – with a projected discharge date of Nov. 29, 2017 – at the time of his arrest.
Nabors was convicted of escape and violating electronic monitoring with an original custody date in Cook County of Jan. 3, 2016, according to an email from IDOC spokeswoman Nicole Wilson. Nabors was sentenced Nov. 28, then admitted into IDOC custody Nov. 29 and sent to mandatory supervised release the same day because of day-for-day sentencing guidelines that took into account time already served in the county jail, Wilson said.
baiduhai reporter Stacy St. Clair contributed.
Twitter @hannahmleone