PEORIA, Ill — Peoria Police say they’ve taken a juvenile suspect into custody in connection with a deadly shooting near Taft Homes earlier this month.
The teen is reportedly now facing murder charges.
The shooting happened Tuesday, Sept. 20, when officers found 46-year-old Christopher Tilman of Mableton, Georgia badly wounded near the scene.
The shooting is believed to have happened just before 9 p.m. about two blocks away near Northeast Madison and Wayne Street.
Tilman later died at the hospital.
Policy now say they have a 16-year-old male juvenile subject in custody after developing him as a suspect in the case.
Officers with PPD’s Special Investigations Division say when they caught up with the teen on Wednesday in an area of Main Street near the UnityPoint hospital campus, he ran and allegedly discarded a loaded handgun in the process.
The gun was recovered.
The juvenile was transported to the Peoria Police Department for questioning and subsequently arrested for First Degree Murder.
According to a release issued Thursday, the juvenile was also arrested for Aggravated Unlawful Use of a Weapon, Possession of a Handgun Under 21, Resisting Arrest, No FOID, and an active Peoria County Warrant – Unlawful Possession of a Firearm.
The juvenile was transported to the Peoria County Juvenile Detention Center. If you have any information regarding this incident, please contact Peoria Police Detective Miller at (309) 494-8397, tip411 (anonymously), or Crime Stoppers
(anonymously) at (309) 673-9000.
