Teen takes 40-year sentence for shooting woman during Aurora carjacking
A teenager has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for shooting a woman during a carjacking outside a Wendy's restaurant in Aurora.
Ishmail Gonzalez, 17, of Harvey, pleaded guilty Thursday to aggravated battery with a firearm and armed violence for the Jan. 16, 2021, attack that left the woman paralyzed.
Gonzalez was initially charged as a juvenile. He was 15 at the time.
He will have to serve at least 85% of the sentence before becoming eligible for parole.
Authorities say Gonzalez and three others carjacked a man that day on Barber Greene Road near DeKalb.
When that vehicle ran low on gasoline, the group exited I-88 at Orchard Road to find another vehicle, according to authorities.
The woman, 47, was eating a meal behind the wheel of her SUV around 4 p.m.
Two attackers struggled with her, trying to push and pull her out of the SUV. Gonzalez then shot her.
One of the co-defendants, Edward McGee, pleaded guilty in October to aggravated vehicular hijacking and was sentenced to 35 years in prison.
Another co-defendant, Darrell Frazier, awaits trial.
The fourth suspect, a juvenile, was killed in late January 2021 during a carjacking in Lansing.
"The shooting that left this victim paralyzed was the culmination of an afternoon of violence by these defendants. No one will ever begin to understand Mr. Gonzalez's coldhearted decision to shoot this victim, especially given that she was outnumbered, 4 to 1. His cowardly choices stand in stark contrast to the victim, who is courageously rebuilding her life." Kane County Assistant State's Attorney Mark Stajdohar said in a news release.