PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) – A Peoria County jury found Lamentae Turner guilty in connection with a deadly 2023 shooting.
Turner, 24, of Decatur, was convicted of first-degree murder and possession of a weapon by a felon after jurors deliberated for two and a half hours. He faces charges in connection with the Jan. 22, 2023, shooting death of Stashaun L. Wheeler, 35, who was found dead at a gas station on West Farmington Road.
He now faces at least 35 years and possibly decades more behind bars when sentenced on July 3 by Circuit Judge Steve Kouri.
Wheeler had left the Dream night club at about 3:45 a.m. that morning and had gone to the Casey’s gas station on Farmington. Two others were in the gray Chevrolet Impala and waited in the car while he went into the store.
When he came out, a hail of gunfire erupted, testified a woman who was in the car. The only thing she could tell about one of the shooters, she said on the stand, was that he wore a ski mask, wore black and had dreadlocks as a hairstyle.
According to a forensic pathologist, Wheeler was struck 10 times in the torso, once in the head, arm, leg and side.
While no one was able to see the shooter’s face, prosecutors said one of them was wearing pants that had a large tag hanging from the back. That same tag was seen on the pants Turner was wearing when he went to the night club, based on video from that business.
Cell phone records as well as video from license plate reader cameras followed the car Turner was linked to, as well as his cell phone from the club to the gas station and then back to Decatur after the shooting.