CHAMPAIGN, Ill. (WAND) - A man who shot and killed someone at the Champaign American Legion in 2021 has been sentenced to 75 years in prison.
Davucci Craig of Champaign showed up on the afternoon of July 2, 2021 to the Legion and killed Kieshaun Thatch, 17, a nephew of David Dalton. Dalton is the person the crowd at the Legion was honoring after he was killed in a June 20 shooting.
No one has been arrested for Dalton's shooting death.
Prosecutors have said an earlier fight between Craig and Thatch is what led to the shooting.
Thatch was shot multiple times at the scene, authorities said. Multiple other people were hit by gunfire, and authorities found over 100 shell casings at the scene.
Police believe multiple people were armed and returned fire at the gunman after Thatch was shot.
A jury found Craig guilty of first-degree murder in June of 2023. The 22-year-old will have to serve 100 percent of the sentence for his first adult conviction, the News Gazette reports.
Assistant State’s Attorney Daniel Reynolds presented evidence of two other crimes to aggravate Craig’s sentence, the News Gazette said.
One was an apparently unprovoked attack in April 2021 on a woman with whom Craig had a relationship. Police said the woman told them Craig grabbed her by the neck and punched her in the face repeatedly and took her phone and purse.
In October of 2021, Craig was arrested for destroying items in his own family’s home, threatening to kill family members and beating a sister’s dog to death and leaving it in her dresser drawer for her to find.
“He said he was going to purge the household,” Wakefield testified.
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