Accused of attempted murder, Iowa man allegedly pushed victim out of car on Hwy. 218
A Cedar Rapids man is facing charges of attempted murder and kidnapping after police connected him to an Iowa City crime scene he fled on July 2.
Lamont’e O’Neal, 20, allegedly shot a person while riding in a car and then forced the driver at gunpoint to dump the victim and take him across state lines.
O'Neal has been charged with attempted murder, two counts of first-degree robbery, two counts of control of a firearm by a felon, one count of second-degree kidnapping while armed with a dangerous weapon, one count of willful injury causing serious injury, and two counts of intimidation with a dangerous weapon after leaving the injured person on the side on Highway 218.
Law enforcement found the man with multiple gunshot wounds on July 2 but could not immediately track down a suspect.
Verbal altercation leads to gunfire
A criminal complaint filed through the Johnson County court system alleges that O’Neal was sitting in the back seat of a black 2008 Nissan Altima on July 2 when he allegedly fired a shot into the stomach of a passenger in the front seat. The two had been arguing when O'Neal allegedly took a cell phone from the person, and when the person reached back to get the device, O'Neal fired.
O'Neal then allegedly ordered the driver to pull over to let the injured man out instead of going to the hospital. O'Neal allegedly pushed the passenger out of the car onto the side of Highway 218 and forced the driver to leave.
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Police say O’Neal allegedly placed the gun on the driver’s back and told him to drive to Peoria, Illinois.
Police responded shortly after to reports of a man shot on the side of Highway 218 near mile marker 93 around 2:26 p.m. on July 2. The man was ultimately treated for non-life-threatening injuries but had to undergo surgery as the bullet was lodged in his hip.
The runaway Nissan was recovered in Peoria, roughly a two-and-a-half-hour drive from Iowa City.
O'Neal's criminal history
O’Neal was previously convicted of aggravated unlawful use of a firearm in Will County, Illinois in 2021, a Class 4 felony conviction in Illinois.
O’Neal, 18 at the time, was sentenced to serve 10 days in custody and two years probation, though his probation was set to be revoked following a pair of violations in early 2022, according to Will County court records.
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According to court documents, O'Neal lived in Chicago's South Shore neighborhood in 2021. Additional filings in Will County indicate that O’Neal had been charged with fleeing or attempting to elude police a few days before the gun charge.
O’Neal is being held in jail in Cook County, Illinois on a separate offense, with bond in that case currently set at $5,000, according to the county’s inmate lookup system. He was booked in Cook County on July 9, though the Press-Citizen could not immediately determine why O’Neal had been arrested.
He will be transported to Johnson County to face nine charges at a later date, local police said in a release.
O'Neal will appear in a Cook County courthouse for the separate charges on Aug. 4.
Ryan Hansen covers local government and crime for the Press-Citizen. He can be reached at rhansen@press-citizen.com or on Twitter @ryanhansen01.
This article originally appeared on Iowa City Press-Citizen: Cedar Rapids man facing attempted murder, kidnapping charges for July 2 shooting
