Man killed in metro-east shooting was suspect’s brother
The man who died after a shooting that also injured an 11-year-old boy last week at a Cahokia Heights apartment complex was the brother of a man arrested in the case, according to information revealed in a St. Clair County courtroom Monday.
Demario Johnson, 36, was injured in a hail of gunfire at the Greystone Apartments on Wednesday morning and died a short time later at a hospital, authorities said.
His brother, Quliac Halfacre, 41, was arrested after the shooting. On Monday, a judge ordered that Halfacre be held without bail until his trial on charges of unlawful possession of a firearm by a repeat felony offender, unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon, and aggravated battery.
During Monday's detention hearing, Halfacre’s attorney asked St. Clair County Associate Judge Sara L. Rice to release him because he acted in “self-defense” and has custody of a child who needs his care. Assistant Public Defender Satchel Conroy also noted that Halfacre wants to attend his brother’s funeral.
“It’s Christmas,” Conroy told Rice in his unsuccessful argument for Halfacre’s pretrial release.
Other revelations in the hearing included:
- The juvenile victim in the shooting was listed as an 11-year-old boy. The age and gender of this victim had not been previously released. Cahokia Heights Police Chief Thomas L. Trice said in an interview Monday that the victim has been released from the hospital.
- The shooting started at the apartment complex after Halfacre was in a verbal argument with a man who had said Halfacre’s “girlfriend was cheating on him,” according to St. Clair County Assistant State’s Attorney Levi Carwile’s statement to Rice. Halfacre was at the apartment complex to sell a vehicle.
- Halfacre admitted to police that he hit the man in the “jaw” and that “he felt threatened,” Carwile said. Conroy described this as a “slap” on the man’s face. After this physical contact occurred, that’s when “guns started going off,” Carwile said.
Multiple people fired guns, including Halfacre, the prosecutor said.
Charging documents do not specify who fired the shots that hit Johnson or the 11-year-old boy. Halfacre said he emptied his handgun of bullets as he ran from the scene, Carwile said. Halfacre tossed the gun while fleeing, but police have not recovered it, according to testimony.
When police arrived, they found Johnson and detected a "faint pulse," Carwile said. Johnson died at 9:59 a.m. Wednesday in the emergency room of Touchette Regional Hospital in Cahokia Heights, St. Clair County Coroner Calvin Dye Sr. previously reported.
Carwile told Rice that Halfacre should be detained before trial because he "instigated" the incident by striking a man in the face while armed with a gun.
Halfacre’s prior record includes a conviction on an armed robbery charge filed in 2008, for which he received a six-year sentence, Carwile said. Court records show that Halfacre pleaded guilty to robbing a Cahokia gas station while armed with a pistol in February 2008.
Halfacre also has a conviction for unlawful possession of methamphetamine. In 2021, he was placed on probation for 30 months on that charge, according to court records; the sentence was successfully completed as of March 2024. In making her ruling to detain Halfacre, Rice noted the prior criminal record cited by Carwile.
Illinois judges such as Rice have been conducting detention hearings since September 2023 for people charged with serious offenses. If a judge finds a person dangerous to the community, the person can be remanded to the county jail until trial, under the state’s revamped criminal justice system, which eliminated cash bail as part of the Safety, Accountability, Fairness and Equity-Today, or SAFE-T, Act.
Apartment complex shootings
Trice said the shooting at the Greystone Apartments off Missouri Avenue remains under investigation and that additional charges could be filed.
Other shootings have been investigated at the Greystone complex this year, including one that was a homicide.
In June, 19-year-old Quan Vaughn was fatally shot at the apartment complex, and in July, a 12-year-old child was shot at the property. Two men were charged in connection with Vaughn’s death. In October 2024, a 16-year-old boy was shot in the apartment complex; his condition was not released at the time.
The Belleville News-Democrat in August published an article about tenants’ complaints about leaks, mold, crime and inadequate heating and air conditioning equipment at the Greystone Apartments.
Johnson’s death was the eighth homicide in Cahokia Heights this year, according to reports in the Belleville News-Democrat. There were at least 13 homicides in the city in 2024.
