Man found guilty of murder in shooting of a 10-year-old Belleville area boy
It took a St. Clair County jury less than two hours to find a 22-year-old Florissant, Missouri, man guilty of the murder of a 10-year-old Belleville area boy that happened in 2023.
Devin Dunbar was convicted of first-degree murder Thursday in the shooting death of Brandon E. Scott.
Brandon was playing a video game inside his house at 1800 Roosevelt Avenue near Belleville when shots were fired at the residence and he was struck in the chest on July 3, 2023.
Based on certain enhancements that the jury found in Dunbar’s case, he faces a sentence of 45 years to natural life in the Illinois Department of Corrections and he will have to serve 100 percent of any sentence he is given, according to St. Clair County State’s Attorney Jim Gomric’s office.
Sentencing in Dunbar’s case is set for Oct. 14 in front of St. Clair County Circuit Judge John O’ Gara, who presided over the trial.
A second man, Jaylen P. Nicks, 28, also was charged in the incident. He has pleaded guilty to an armed violence charge in exchange for a 26-year sentence in the Illinois Department of Corrections.
Both Dunbar and Nicks were acquainted with the family and an investigation linked them to the murder, Belleville Police Master Sgt. Shane Brown said at the time.
“We’re confident that this was not just a random act of violence, that the individuals involved had some knowledge of the location they were going to,” Brown said at a 2023 news conference.
Dunbar was remanded to the custody of the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Department.
Brandon’s father, Wendel Scott Jr., told the BND in 2023 that his son was inside their home playing a video game when someone shot at the house.
“My son didn’t deserve this,” Scott said. “He was inside of the house playing a video game. This doesn’t make any sense.”
The case was investigated by the St. Clair County Sheriff’s Department and the Major Case Squad of Greater St. Louis.
St. Clair County Assistant State’s Attorney Daniel Lewis and Crystal Uhe, a special prosecutor for the Illinois State’s Attorney’s Appellate Prosecutor’s Office, prosecuted this case.
