Man Guilty In Willowbrook Shooting Of Pregnant Woman: Jury

WILLOWBROOK, IL – A Chicago man who shot a pregnant woman in her back in 2022 in Willowbrook as she fled from him was found guilty last week, authorities said.

After a four-day trial, a jury returned a guilty verdict against Lawrence Grant, 41, on one count of attempted murder, one count of aggravated battery with a firearm and two counts of aggravated discharge of a firearm, prosecutors said.

Grant has been in the DuPage County Jail since the shooting.

In the early evening of Jan. 28, 2022, Willowbrook police responded to a crashed car on Route 83. They found a pregnant woman suffering from a gunshot wound to her back.

The woman was taken to a local hospital, where the baby was delivered while the woman was in surgery, according to a news release from DuPage County prosecutors. The baby and the mother survived and later recovered, police said.

Prosecutors said Grant, the woman and another person got into an argument that turned physical at Whole Foods in Willowbrook, police said. They all left in different cars.

Heading south on Route 83, Grant followed the woman and fired shots at her, causing her to crash, prosecutors said.

About three hours later, Grant was found at the University of Chicago Medical Center in Chicago, where he was admitted for an unrelated matter, police said. The car he was driving was discovered on fire about a block from the hospital, police said. Grant was arrested upon his release from the hospital.

"On January 28, 2022, after the victim repeatedly declined Lawrence Grant's advances, he caused a scene inside the Whole Foods store, turned a verbal argument with the victim's boyfriend into a physical confrontation, followed the victim in her car as she fled the scene and then opened fire at her multiple times, striking her in the back, causing her to crash her car," DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin said in the news release. "The jury sent a clear message that Mr. Grant's violent actions of shooting a pregnant woman in the back will not be tolerated in DuPage County and that he will be held responsible."

Grant faces a penalty of 31 years to life in prison, prosecutors said.