A life-threatening injury was sustained by the backseat passenger of the victim vehicle, according to state police, who was shot and sent to a nearby hospital.
The Cook County Jail is holding Mills, of Evergreen Park, Illinois, without bond, according to documents.
Over seven years ago, Obama granted Mills a pardon. Mills was convicted of multiple charges of cocaine trafficking in 1994 and received a life sentence. In 2015, Obama shortened his sentence, which concluded in 2016. Several notable Democratic senators praised Mills as a prime example of a reformed felon after his release from incarceration.
In2016, Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) posted a photo of herself and Alton Mills on Facebook. Her caption poignantly juxtaposes the treatment of drug-dealers versus white-collar criminals. The former often receive harsh prison sentences; the latter, paltry fines. Warren advocates for change and improvement in our criminal justice system and drug-enforcement procedures, which all too often leave lives and communities destroyed.
After his release, Alton Mills worked as a mechanic for the Chicago Transit Authority. He got married and began pursuing an associate’s degree. Senate Majority Whip Dick Durbin (D-Ill.), disclosed this during his legislative speech in 2018. Mills had been sentenced to life in prison and would have died there without a pardon, according to Durbin.