Jaylan D. Russell, age 20, was sentenced on March 30 to 12 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections after pleading guilty to Aggravated Battery with a Firearm for a shooting that took place in August 2024 outside Amir’s Market in Peoria. The incident left an 18-year-old male injured.
The sentencing comes as part of an agreement between the State and Russell, given that this is his first felony conviction and the victim was reluctant to cooperate with authorities. Under the terms of his sentence, Russell must serve at least 85 percent of his prison term.
Police responded to a Shot Spotter alert around 1:30 pm on August 26, arriving at the scene on the 700 block of E. Frye in Peoria’s East Bluff neighborhood where they found the victim suffering from non-life-threatening gunshot wounds. Surveillance footage showed two armed men chasing and firing at the victim as he attempted to escape by jumping over a fence. Additional video evidence led investigators to identify Russell and Caron Payton, age 19, as suspects in the case; Payton’s case remains pending.
In related community data from education reports, Peoria County had an average student-to-teacher ratio of fifteen-to-one during the 2022-23 school year among its more than twenty-seven thousand students and nearly eighteen hundred full-time faculty members according to state education data. Teacher absenteeism was recorded at thirty-two point three percent for county schools during that period, which is lower than Illinois’ statewide average as reported by state officials.
Diversity statistics from local schools show Dunlap High School had the highest enrollment of white students (873), Richwoods High School led with multiracial student enrollment (182), Lincoln School had the most Hispanic students (218), and Peoria High School recorded the highest number of Black students (798) during that same academic year according to official figures.
Payton’s legal proceedings are ongoing.
