CARBONDALE, Ill. -- The eighth person arrested in connection to the 2016 shooting of Carbondale Officer Trey Harris has been convicted.
The Carbondale Police Department said on July 31, 2016, officers saw a vehicle fleeing after some shots were fired towards a group of people in the 700-block of Robert A. Stalls Avenue at 11:38 p.m.
Officers then tried to stop the vehicle and a pursuit ensued with the driver speeding at a high rate.
The chase went on Marion Street, then east on Dillinger Road. At this point, one of the occupants of the suspected vehicle fired a rifle at the officers, police said. This ended up hitting the squad car.
Officer Trey Harris was hit in the face with the projectile of the shot that was fired. The other officer then took Harris to the hospital. Harris was then taken to a St. Louis hospital for emergency surgery.
Police said this resulted in Officer Harris having permanent damage to his vision which required him to medically retire from law enforcement.
Multiple agencies from Illinois and other states joined in the investigation to locate the suspects.
"In the course of the following years, investigators identified numerous individuals as being involved with a cannabis trafficking organization with ties to Kansas, Oregon, and ¾ÅÓÎÌåÓý Illinois," Carbondale Police said in a release. "As a result of the investigation, a number of individuals were charged with crimes ranging from Cannabis Trafficking to Aggravated Battery to a Police Officer with a Firearm."
Several people have been charged and sentenced in the case for involvement in the drug operation.
- Alex Karcher: 27.5 years, aggravated battery to a police officer, aggravated discharge of a firearm, conspiracy to possess w/ intent to deliver
- Christian Reichert: 23 years, conspiracy to possess, manufacturing cannabis, cannabis trafficking
- Matthew Manley: 9 years, conspiracy to possess w/ intent to deliver
- Brandon Jones: 18 years, manufacturing cannabis, cannabis trafficking
- Jared Jones: 10 years, manufacturing cannabis
- Xavier McCray: 10 years, aggravated discharge of weapon, aggravated battery
- William Cummins: 4 years probation, conspiracy to possess w/ intent to deliver
On January 11, 2022 the U.S. Marshals Colorado Violent Offender Task Force located and arrested Xavier Lewis, 31, on an outstanding Jackson County warrant.
Lewis faced charges of cannabis trafficking (>5,000 grams), manufacture and delivery of cannabis (>5,000 grams), aggravated discharge of a firearm, and aggravated battery of a police officer with a firearm.
Lewis was in court in Jackson County and the case was tried before a jury on November 3.
He was then then convicted on all charges.
Lewis will be sentenced on a later date.
"In addition to all of the work by the Illinois State Police to coordinate this investigation with the Carbondale Police Department, the investigation and prosecution of this case were greatly assisted by the Jackson County Sheriff’s Office, the Williamson County Sheriff’s Office, The Jackson County State’s Attorney’s Office, the Illinois Office of the Appellate Prosecutor, the Office of the Illinois Attorney General, the Marion Police Department, the Drug Enforcement Administration, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and Firearms, the Kansas Bureau of Investigation, the Salina, Kansas Police Department and Illinois State Police Division of Forensic Services," the Carbondale Police Department said in the release.
