An otherwise totally normal Illinois man faces nine counts after shooting his Black neighbor with an assault rifle in what police say is a racially-motivated shooting after years of harassment, ABC 7 in Chicago reports.
Seventy-year-old John Shadbar of Lockport alleged shot his neighbor, 45-year-old Melissa Robertson, multiple times in an assault recorded by neighbors on their cell phones. After wounding her, Shadbar reportedly circled Robertson, firing additional shots at her. Robertson was able to drag herself from her from yard to her kitchen, where she was found by a friend who was staying with her. By the time police arrived, Shadbar retreated to his home, but surrendered later. Robertson survived the shooting and is hospitalized in critical condition.
Shadbar had harassed Robertson and her two stepchildren for years, hurling racial slurs at them. At other times, he aimed fireworks at their home and fired at them with blanks in his weapon.