Verdict Reached In Jon Hansen Double Shooting Trial: Shorewood Man Considered Romeo Nance His Guardian Angel

JOLIET, IL — On Friday afternoon after about 90 minutes of deliberating, jurors sided with the Will County State's Attorney's Office prosecutors who painted Shorewood man Jon Hansen as the mastermind behind two shootings that left one man dead and another wounded. Hansen was in a vehicle with his friend Romeo Nance, who prosecutors said killed his entire family just hours before those final two shootings.

The shootings, one that wounded a 44-year-old Hispanic man who did not speak English on Joliet’s Davis Street and the other that left a 28-year-old Nigerian immigrant dead in Joliet Township, happened hours after Nance reportedly killed seven family members.

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The jury found Hansen guilty of first-degree murder in the death of Toyosi Bakare and attempted murder in the shooting of Mario Guerrero. The trial lasted for three weeks and took place in Courtroom 502 of Judge Jessica Colon-Sayre.

Prosecutors argued that Hansen considered himself to be a rising rank member of the Milwaukee Kings street gang and he had a vengeance toward the Vice Lords around Joliet's east side. They said he and Romeo Nance grew up together were the closest of friends and that Nance and Hansen hugged one another before Nance drove off and left town prior to taking his own life in Texas while trying to make it south of the border to escape U.S. authorities for all the murders he had committed back in Joliet.

Prosecutors argued that Hansen may have carried out both of the two shootings himself, for sure, he shot Mario Guerrero, and if he did not pull the trigger to kill Toyosi, he directed Nance to do it and therefore must be found guilty of first-degree murder under an equal accountability theory.

One of Hansen's family members was crying uncontrollably and ultimately left the courtroom for a bit during the reading of the verdicts. When she returned she yelled out loud, "this isn't over Jon." Hansen, apparently disagreed with her, because she then responded out loud, "No, it isn't."

The defense team for Hansen consisted of Tomczak Law Group's Jeff Tomczak, Anna Rose Bertani and Patti Kalkanis and Tomczak was the lead lawyer. The judge set Nov. 17 as the status hearing date. Tomczak indicated he will be filing a motion for a new trial based on a number of factors.

As for Hansen, prosecutors said he was responsible for texting and Facebook messaging several Milwaukee King gang members, including Nance, two hours before Nance killed his own family that same Sunday morning. By mid-afternoon, it was Hansen who directed those individuals to unsend all of their messages, the prosecutor emphasized. Then, while riding around inside Nance's car, she said Hansen put his phone in airplane mode for over an hour while both of the final two shootings occurred.

"He may not be a criminal mastermind, but he's not as stupid as his attorney likes you to think," prosecutor Alexandra Molesky told the jury.

As for his client's actions and decisions on Jan. 21, 2024, Tomczak looked at his client and remarked, "This is a kid from Shorewood. I hate to call him that, but he was the useful idiot to Romeo Nance, not the brightest bulb ... he's a tough talker, a wannabe and he got in the car."

During the outset of Friday's closing arguments, prosecutor Mark Shlifka told the jury that his side put forth overwhelming evidence showing how Hansen was responsible for ordering members of the Milwaukee Kings to participate in some Joliet drive-by shootings later that day that would target the Vice Lords. "This is nation business," one of Hansen's deleted Facebook messages showed.

Shlifka pointed out there was an assault rifle, various handguns and ammunition all over Nance's car when Hansen got into his car that afternoon. "And he gets right in and they carry out the plan," Shlifka argued.

If Hansen was only a keyboard warrior, as the defense contends, why did Hansen order Nance to stop at the 7-Eleven so that Hansen could purchase a set of gloves for himself, Shlifka asked the jury, explaining both of them already had ski masks that were necessary for the drive-by shootings.

Shlifka maintained that their gang-affiliated messages leading up to that day's shootings showed how Hansen was considered the treasurer and Nance was known as an enforcer. "They were there to torch mother f****s," Shlifka told the jury, speaking of Hansen and Nance.

Why did Hansen send out a Facebook message to the others ordering them to delete all of their previous messages, Shlifka asked the jury to consider. Why did Hansen write, "I don't want no one to say a word," Shlifka pointed out.

Shlifka wanted the jury to think about a bank robbery and how there's probably a driver, a lookout and the gunman. Just because the driver and lookout did not rob the bank does not mean they are not equally culpable of committing the crime, and that's how the jury should view the evidence in regard to the last two shootings with Hansen.

The fact that Hansen never obtained his desired Milwaukee Kings tattoos of the numbers 11 and 13 underneath his eyelids does not mean the jury should find him not guilty, Shlifka emphasized to the jury.

"He did all the planning ... he's the architect of this attack."

To read Joliet Patch's story from Friday's closing arguments, go here.