Illinois father charged in son’s fatal East St. Louis shooting, another wounded

A 49-year-old Summerfield man was charged with killing his 31-year-old son in an East St. Louis shooting that also left another person wounded, turning a pre-dawn homicide into a family case with a second victim in the blast radius.

Illinois State Police identified the suspect as Anthony L. Powe and said he was charged with first-degree murder and attempted murder after the April 10 shooting near South 22nd Street and Market Avenue. The victim who died was Devonta A. McCray of Belleville. A second person was found nearby with gunshot injuries and was taken to a hospital.

Police said the East St. Louis Police Department asked for state assistance after the shooting, which happened just after 5 a.m. Officers found McCray inside a vehicle with gunshot wounds in the area of 22nd and Market streets. A second victim was located nearby, which is what drove the additional attempted murder count instead of a single homicide charge.

State police said investigators identified Powe after a thorough investigation and then confirmed the relationship that makes the case so disturbing: Powe was McCray’s father. The case was presented to St. Clair County State’s Attorney James Gomric on April 11, and charges were filed the same day.

The arrest announcement came on April 13, when Illinois State Police said Powe was being held in the St. Clair County Jail awaiting his first court appearance. The agency has not laid out a motive, and the early record in the case remains sparse on why the shooting happened.

The charges carry serious weight in Illinois. First-degree murder is a Class M felony, and attempted murder is a Class X felony. With one man dead, another wounded, and the suspect identified as the victim’s father, the case stood out in the metro-east as more than a routine street killing.