PEORIA, Ill. – A man will spend 15 years behind bars after being convicted of reckless discharge of a firearm and unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon in a case that led to a fatal pedestrian crash.
The Peoria County State’s Attorney’s Office says 35-year-old Demetrius Drummond was sentenced Wednesday after being convicted in April in the October 28, 2023 case.
Just before 1 a.m., the state’s attorney’s office says Drummond was at a party on E. Thrush Avenue in Peoria’s East Bluff, where he got into an argument with someone, and recklessly fired his gun into the air.
As the gun went off, people fled into the street. 24-year-old Kobe Johnson was struck and killed by a vehicle.
During Wednesday’s sentencing, Johnson’s mother spoke to Drummond, saying she knew he didn’t intend for the tragedy to happen, but she had one wish…that he thinks about her son every day that he spends in prison, the state’s attorney’s office said.
Drummond was sentenced to nine years in federal prison for unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon and six years for reckless discharge of a firearm, to be served one after the other.
