PEORIA, Ill. — News Partner 25 News has reported that Jermontay Brock has been convicted by a Peoria County jury of three counts of first-degree murder and one count of aggravated battery with a firearm following a 2018 shooting.
Prosecutors argued that Brock shot and killed Anthony Polnitz and Nasjay Murry, a BU freshman, at a party near Bradley University in April 2018 when he thought he saw a member of a rival gang.
A third person was also injured in the shooting.
At the time of the shooting, Brock was 16 years old.
Prosecutors also argued that Brock wanted to prove himself to his gang, the Bomb Squad, by killing a high ranking member of a rival gang.
The defense argued that Brock said that just to impress fellow gang members, and that eyewitness reports describing the shooter as having dreadlocks matched to another Bomb Squad member.
On Thursday afternoon, the jury found Brock guilty on all three counts against him.
Brock’s trial resumed earlier this week, after being put on hold during a COVID-19 outbreak at the Peoria County Jail.
The sentencing will take place in October.
