DeKalb man sentenced to 45 years for shooting stranger in the face with a shotgun
DUPAGE COUNTY, Ill. (WTVO) — A DeKalb man has been sentenced to 45 years for an unprovoked attack in which he shot a random stranger in the face with a shotgun.
According to the DuPage County State's Attorney, Ahmad Steele, 38, drove to the parking lot of the Mapei Corporation, on Industrial Drive in West Chicago, on January 28th, 2021, and shot the victim, whom he did not know.
Authorities said the victim, a worker at the company, had gone out to the parking lot around 7:30 p.m. on dinner break.
Steele pulled up and parked several spots away from the victim, got out of his Chevy Blazer, walked to the victim's vehicle, and shot the victim in the face.
The victim underwent five surgeries to reconstruct his jaw. He ultimately passed away from an unrelated illness in 2023, authorities said.
Steele was arrested in Naperville on February 6th, 2021, as he was driving on Route 59.
'On a cold January evening, for no apparent reason at all, Ahmad Steele approached a man unknown to him as he sat in his car on dinner break, and shot him in the face with a shotgun,' DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin said. 'While the motive for this extremely violent, unprovoked attack may never be known, we do know the physical and emotional pain Mr. Steele inflicted on an innocent man forever changed his life. The randomness of this horrific act of violence shook an entire community to its core and we are all thankful that Mr. Steele will more than likely spend what amounts to the rest of his life behind bars, away from society, where he will be unable to harm anyone ever again.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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