Aurora Thanksgiving Shooter Gets Prison Time

AURORA, IL — A man who opened fire on someone Thanksgiving day of 2015 is headed to prison. Gheroncia N. Suggs, 22, of the 1000 block of North Avenue in Aurora, agreed Friday to a sentence of 6 and a half years at the Illinois Department of Corrections in exchange for his guilty plea. He was charged with attempted aggravated battery with a firearm, according to a press release from the Kane County State's Attorney's Office. Circuit Judge James C. Hallock accepted the plea Friday, and, per Illinois law, Suggs gets 434 days of credit toward his sentence.

On Thanksgiving day of 2015, at about 3:30 p.m., Suggs and three others were parked outside an open business in the 200 block of Hill Avenue in Aurora. County officials said Suggs, who was in the driver's seat, jumped out of the car and fired six shots at Darious Harris, who was seated behind him in the vehicle. Harris fired a single shot in return as he attempted to flee the vehicle.

Harris was struck once in the leg. In 2016, a Kane County jury convicted him of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, and he was sentenced to three years in prison.

Booking photo of Gheroncia N. Suggs, courtesy of Kane County State's Attorney's Office