An Illinois man has been charged with a hate crime and attempted murder after being accused of shooting his next-door neighbor, a white mother with two Black sons.
The incident occurred on Tuesday, May 7 at approximately 5:30 pm. Deputies received a report of shots being fired and responded to the area in Lockport Township.
According to the authorities, witnesses identified John Shadbar as the shooter, saying he’d “shot the victim outside and was walking around his property with a rifle.” Allegedly, he had “fired dozens of rounds at the woman ‘from different outside locations,’” NBC News reports.
Security cameras captured the shooting on video, and detectives state this incident appears to have been “racially motivated.”
Shadbar is also facing seven other charges, included aggravated battery, and unlawful use of a weapon by a felon. Currently, he is “being held in jail without bond,” with court records showing that Melissa Robertson, the victim, was harassed by her neighbor for years because of her Black partner.
In addition, this appears to be the culmination of ongoing tensions between the two households per court records. Over the years, Shadbar purportedly “directed racial slurs at Robertson and her children and threatening their lives by firing blank rounds from his gun and saying he was going to kill them.”
In this latest instance, Emily Tashaski, a friend of Robertson’s, recounted how “Shadbar began ‘revving his motorcycle engine,’ to which Melissa replied by blowing an air horn in his direction. He then said ‘there’s gonna be dead n—— today’ and threw a drink bottle over the fence.”
“Melissa walked toward Defendant thinking he was shooting blanks. Emily heard gunshots and saw Melissa fall to the ground. Emily opened the door and Melissa crawled on all fours into the house and began moaning. Emily saw Victim Melissa was shot and called 911,” the court documents state.
Robertson sustained “a gunshot wound to her chest that exited her back,” and received surgery to treat her injuries.
Afterward, “Shadbar barricaded himself inside his home,” only exiting after a sheriff’s office crisis negotiator spoke with him.” Officers procured a search warrant and later entered Shadbar’s home where they “found five guns in Shadbar’s home, including some that were hidden in the walls. Shadbar’s gun-ownership rights had been revoked after he was arrested for a felony in 1979.”
The 70-year-old was arraigned at Will County Courthouse, and is scheduled to be back in court on May 23.