Man Pleads Guilty In Evanston Murder Fueled By Social Media

SKOKIE, IL — Just over five years after an man was murdered in what police described as a social media-fueled gang dispute, the former Evanston resident charged with his killing pleaded guilty Monday.

Dominic Connerly, 27, agreed to plead guilty in exchange for the reduced charge of conspiracy to commit the first-degree murder of Floyd Gibert, who was 30 years old when he was shot and killed on Dec. 7, 2013 in the 2000 block of Darrow Avenue.

At the time, Evanston police said the shooting was thought to have grown out of an ongoing dispute between members of two local groups that had been fueled by social media media posts.

Police said both Connerly and Gibert were both members of local street gangs. Connorly was on parole for a previous theft charge and living in Zion at the time of Gibert's killing.

At a Dec. 17 hearing shortly before the trial was set to start, prosecutors said Connerly and an unspecified person agreed to kill Gibert and that Gibert was found fatally shot a short while later, the Chicago Tribune reported. As he accepted Connorly's plea, Cook County Circuit Judge Paul Pavlus said had discretion could sentence him to as much as 30 years in prison due to his lengthy criminal history, the Tribune reported, even though Connerly had agreed to a 15-year sentence with prosecutors.

Connerly's twin brother, Darien Marquez-Connerly, is serving a 35-year sentence in state prison for murdering 50-year-old taxi driver Leodis Blackburn in May 2011 when he was 19. Blackburn refused to hand over cash to during a botched armed robbery at Ridge Avenue and Howard Street.

Evanston has declined to release any records related to the investigation into Gibert's homicide, arguing it would interfere with an ongoing or potential law enforcement proceeding. Pavlus is due to sentence Connorly Jan. 3 for the murder conspiracy charge.