An Illinois man was ordered held without bail on Thursday, charged with multiple counts, including attempted murder and a hate crime, after he shot his neighbor with an assault-style rifle on Tuesday in a Chicago suburb.
Melissa Robertson, 45, is in critical but stable condition after two surgeries, her aunt, Jeanne Beyer, told WLS.
“She’s literally still fighting for her life,” Beyer said. “She’s nowhere near out of the woods.”
John Shadbar, 70, is facing nine felony counts for the shooting, including attempted murder, aggravated assault, unlawful use of a weapon, and hate crime. In court on Thursday, prosecutors said there is video showing the shooting.
Prosecutors outlined years of animosity between Robertson and Shadbar in court, saying that Shadbar frequently used racial slurs against her two biracial children. The most recent case of such epithets came on Tuesday, the day he shot Robertson.
Robertson and another woman who lived at the house were in the back yard with their young sons, prosecutors said, according to Patch. Shadbar suddenly began revving his motorcycle engine, prompting Robertson to blast an airhorn in his direction.
“There’s going to be dead n****** today,” Shadbar shouted back.
The other woman brought the two children inside the house as Shadbar through a bottle over the fence. Moments later, she heard the gunshots, prosecutors said. As Robertson crawled into the house, she saw Shadbar walked past the window carrying his rifle.
Police said Shadbar barricaded himself inside his home but was eventually persuaded to surrender by a crisis negotiator, according to WBBM. Police said he made several incriminating statements to the negotiator before he left the home.
Beyer told the station that Shadbar frequently railed at the children using slurs.
“And, you know, ‘What are you doing here? Get out of here.’ He’d call my niece an N-lover. Just anything,” she said. “Apparently, yesterday it escalated. He was yelling ‘Dead N-word’ as he was trying to get into her backyard to shoot, and her son, her 8-year-old, was on the trampoline, with another little one.”
Mikeal Johnson, Robertson’s stepson, told WLS that the family had called police multiple times, when Shadbar had thrown fireworks at them or fired blanks.
“Nothing was done,” he said. “And it’s very unfortunate.”
Beyer told the station that one of Robertson’s children — an 8-year-old boy — was home when his mother was shot. She dragged herself into her house from the yard, and a friend who was staying with her called 911.
“We were all very shocked when this happened, but honestly sadly we are not surprised,” Beyer said. “This has been nine years and coming.”
Police said they found multiple unlicensed weapons in Shadbar’s home after his arrest and that he had been denied a firearm owner’s card because of a previous felony conviction.
“Nothing was ever done. And I don’t care if he was shooting blanks,” Beyer said. “If he’s in his front yard waving a gun and doesn’t have a FOID card. I mean, I have a FOID card. I can’t go stand in my front yard and wave my gun around without some consequences.”
Shadbar is due back in court on May 23 and can appeal his lack of bond at that time.
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[Featured image: Melissa Robertson/GoFundMe and John Shadbar/Will County Sheriff’s Office]
