1st of Three Defendants Found Guilty of Murder

October 1, 2025, Peoria, IL - Today, a Peoria County jury found 17-year-old Lamar Cagle guilty of First-Degree Murder for the June killing of 20-year-old Teron M. Scott Jr. Cagle was also convicted of Aggravated Battery with a Firearm following the three-day trial.

On Friday, June 20, 2025, at around 2:45 a.m., police responded to a car crash in the 300 block of S. MacArthur Highway in South Peoria. Upon arrival, officers found Scott in the rear driver's seat of a car that had crashed into a tree at Martin Luther King Jr. Park. Scott sustained a gunshot wound to the head and was pronounced dead on the scene. Officers also learned that a second gunshot victim arrived at the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.

During the trial, the jury viewed surveillance footage showing the suspect vehicle driving recklessly to catch up to the victim's car and crossing into oncoming traffic to pull alongside it before gunfire erupted. Officers later identified the suspect vehicle and discovered that it was equipped with a dash camera that recorded the shooting. In this video, Cagle can be heard discussing being one of the shooters. At the scene, officers recovered three sets of shell casings, confirming that shots had been fired from multiple firearms.

Christopher Adams and Kamereon Bell were also identified as being in the vehicle and are charged in connection with the murder. Their cases remain pending.

Sentencing for the case is scheduled for November 19.

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