Danville man charged with shooting at his ex in 2023 incident

Sam Lisec, The News-Gazette, Champaign-Urbana, Ill.
Updated ·3 min read

May 24—URBANA — A Danville man has been charged with shooting at his ex-girlfriend multiple times in an incident about a year ago in the parking lot of a north Champaign Walgreens.

Champaign County Judge Brett Olmstead ruled Thursday that Darriontez J. McMillion, 20, must await trial in jail after he was arraigned this week on charges of aggravated discharge of a firearm at an occupied vehicle and aggravated unlawful use of a loaded firearm.

Assistant State's Attorney Chris McCallum said on May 18, 2023, police responded to a report of shots fired at the Walgreens at 841 Bloomington Road.

A woman told officers that she was in her vehicle when her ex-boyfriend, McMillion, approached and started yelling at her, McCallum said. McMillion allegedly then fired at least three shots in her direction and fled in a white minivan. She was unharmed.

Officers found three bullet holes in the woman's vehicle and three 9 mm bullet casings at the scene, McCallum said. Surveillance video confirmed that a white minivan drove away from the area.

Champaign police were unable to locate McMillion, the prosecutor said, but he was arrested earlier this year by Danville police conducting a traffic stop in that city.

After police pulled over the car McMillion was riding in Jan. 24 and saw cannabis in plain view, McMillion fled but was eventually detained, along with another person who was in the car that police said was carrying a bag that had a loaded gun inside, McCallum said.

McMillion admitted that it was his gun, and Champaign police sent it to a crime lab that provided evidence it was the same firearm used in the 2023 Walgreens shooting, McCallum said.

The delay in charging McMillion was a result of Champaign police being unaware that he had been arrested in Danville and then the time it took to get the lab results back on the gun, McCallum said.

Petitioning for McMillion to be held in jail, McCallum argued that he is a danger to at least one person in the community — his ex-girlfriend — and emphasized that McMillion was around the same gun used in 2023 when he once again fled from police in January.

McMillion's attorney, Public Defender Peter Ladwein, argued that if the state truly had a witness and surveillance footage tying McMillion to the 2023 shooting, then it had probable cause to request a warrant for his arrest a year ago. But the fact that prosecutors didn't get one until last month indicates the state did not believe he was a threat to the community.

Olmstead said the defense had a point but affirmed that the prosecution's view on a case is not necessarily binding on the court — it's up to the judge whether someone poses a detainable risk to the community.

Olmstead also noted that McMillion was arrested while on probation for a separate 2023 domestic-battery conviction involving the same woman who was allegedly shot at.

McMillinon faces six to 30 years in prison if convicted of aggravated discharge of a firearm, a Class X felony. He is next scheduled to appear in court in June.