Man who says he shot twins in self-defense found guilty of second-degree murder

After deliberating for four days, jurors found a Round Lake Beach man guilty of second-degree murder and aggravated assault for shooting twin 17-year-olds, killing one, last year.

Lynell Glover faces up to 30 years in prison. A hearing was set for May 5, and officials said a judge could determine his sentence then.

During the lengthy trial, which began March 14, Glover's defense team argued he acted in self-defense when he shot four times at Anthony and Jonathan Awad, both of Carol Stream, during a confrontation about a stolen car along Route 12 near Volo on Jan. 3, 2021. Anthony was shot three times and died. Jonathan survived a single gunshot wound to a leg.

Authorities said that days before the shooting, the Awad brothers stole Glover's 2012 Chevrolet Camaro from the driveway of a family home. Glover found them parked on the side of Route 12, called 911 and told the boys to stay in the car, shooting them when they tried to flee, prosecutors said.

"Mr. Glover started the fight, shot the boys after the altercation, and then hid the gun afterwards," Lake County State's Attorney Eric Rinehart said. "The jury correctly saw that Mr. Glover was wrong to take the law into his own hands."

One of the key differences between Glover's account of what happened and the version proffered by prosecutors is who brought the handgun Glover used to shoot the twins. Glover's attorney, James Schwarzbach, said during closing arguments Thursday that one of the twins had it when Glover drove up and Glover had to fight for control of it before using the gun to shoot the boys in self-defense.

Prosecutors argued Glover had the gun on him when he arrived and shot the twins when they to began to run.

The jury began deliberating the case just before 1 p.m. last Thursday and was sent home about 10:30 p.m. that day. Jury deliberations continued Friday and Monday until a verdict was reached after 5 p.m. Tuesday.

Rinehart said he hopes the verdict provides the Awad family with some closure even though Anthony can't be brought back.

Schwarzbach and his co-counsel, Kris Nordby, declined to comment on the verdict Tuesday evening.