Gunman in fatal I-88 shooting near Oak Brook mulls self-defense strategy
Attorneys for the man charged in the April 2017 shooting death of a truck driver on the Reagan Tollway in Oak Brook say they are now mulling a self-defense strategy.
Loren Blumenfeld, attorney for Anthony Tillmon, 36, of Lansing, told DuPage County Judge John Kinsella Friday that he expects to soon review police records of "prior bad acts" committed by the victim, Eduardo Munoz, 43, of Northlake, before filing what is known as a "Lynch motion."
According to Illinois law, evidence of a prior criminal act by a complaining witness against a defendant can be admitted into evidence to support the defendant's claim of self-defense.
Blumenfeld said he needs to retrieve the records from Maywood and review them before making a decision. Tillmon is charged with first-degree murder and is held on $3 million bail.
Kinsella set June 3 for a hearing to decide whether any evidence Blumenfeld discovers may be used to show Tillmon, a tow-truck driver, acted reasonably when he fired multiple shots into the cab of Munoz's semitrailer truck on April 21, 2017, along I-88 during the afternoon rush hour near York Road.
Prosecutors say witnesses said both trucks were swerving into each other's eastbound lanes just before Munoz was shot three times.
Their descriptions of the truck Tillmon was driving allowed police to review video from the tollway and compare it to the GPS device and I-PASS transponder in his vehicle.
Prosecutors allege that after the shooting, Tillmon drove to a Walmart in Lansing, where video shows him parking his truck in a remote location and his girlfriend picking him up in a Jeep. She later dropped him off at the tow truck company.
Once there, Tillmon asked one of his co-workers to drive him back to Walmart to pick up the tow truck. He then drove the truck back to the company, got in his Dodge Charger, drove back to his girlfriend's house and left again in her Jeep.
During Tillmon's original bail hearing in April 2017, prosecutors said Tillmon's co-workers told authorities he was showing off a gun at work shortly before the shooting. He did not have a FOID card or concealed carry permit.
Tillmon has never been convicted of a crime but has three previous gun-related arrests in Cook, Vermillion and McLean counties.
Kinsella said he would like to set the two-year-old case for trial at the June 3 court date.