Montgomery Man Shot To Death In Aurora Crashes Jeep On Way To Hospital

A 33-year-old Montgomery man was shot and killed in Aurora early Saturday morning in what Aurora police are calling a non-random incident.

Aurora police identified the deceased man as Bryce M. Stiff, 33, of the first block of Hampton Road, in Montgomery.

Police received a shots-fired call around 2:20 a.m. Saturday for a person hit in the area of River Street and North avenue. While enroute, officers learned of a traffic crash with injuries in the 800 block of North Lake Street where a Jeep had collided with a telephone pole.

When police went to investigate the Jeep crash, they were directed by a 21-year-old Montgomery man to a vehicle in the parking lot of a rental car business where the gunshot victim was located.

According to an Aurora police news release, Stiff was driving with the 21-year-old man as his passenger when they heard several shots ring out in the 200 block of South LaSalle Street.

One of the shots hit Stiff in the shoulder. As he attempted to drive himself to an Aurora hospital, police said that Stiff hit the Jeep while traveling northbound on Lake Street. The force of the crash forced the Jeep to hit the utility pole.

Police said Stiff’s vehicle continued northbound where it went over a berm and into the car rental parking lot where it came to a rest.

A woman and sole occupant of the Jeep had to be extricated from her vehicle and treated for non-life threatening injuries.

Stiff was taken by Aurora Fire Department paramedics to a nearby Aurora hospital where he was was pronounced dead at 2:58 a.m. The Montgomery man appears to have bled out from the gunshot wound and did not die of injuries related to the crash, police said.

The 21-year-old man escaped injury.

Police said they have no motive for the shooting, but do not believe it to be a random incident. There is no description of the shooter.

An autopsy is pending at the Kane County Coroner.

Aurora police also worked another fatal crash scene early Saturday morning that killed the 21-year-old driver, Porce T. Robinson, of Chicago. The car’s four female passengers were also seriously injured, including a 24-year-old Montgomery woman.

Anyone with information is asked to call Aurora Police investigators at 630-256-5500 or Aurora Area Crime Stoppers at (630) 892-1000. Callers to Crime Stoppers are anonymous and qualify for a cash reward of up to $5,000 for information that leads to any arrests.