JEFFERSON COUNTY, IL — A 20-year-old Harrisburg man was sentenced Monday in Jefferson County Court to 50 years in prison for a 2020 road rage incident that sent two people to the hospital with gunshot wounds. A Jefferson County jury took just over five hours this summer to convict Alonte Beachem of two Class X felony charges of attempted murder for the February 7th, 2020 shooting of two men in the 1000 block of North Log Cabin Lane in Jefferson County.

According to Jefferson County State’s Attorney Sean Featherstun, Beachem and the two victims worked at Continental Tire at the time – Beachem through a temporary agency – and they traveled the same road to and from work. During the trial, the victims testified that Beachem was waiting for them after work following an altercation a few days earlier. That night, Beachem’s 19th birthday, Jefferson County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a report of a shooting. Once there, deputies located a 37-year-old gunshot victim who was transported by ambulance for treatment of a serious gunshot wound. A black Kia passenger car was quickly identified as the offending vehicle, including the license plate. Saline County deputies later located the suspected vehicle, attempted to initiate a stop, and the vehicle fled. Once the pursuit ended, Saline County deputies took Beachem into custody.

Beachem will be required to serve 85% of this sentence in the Illinois Department of Corrections.