70-year-old Lockport Township man charged with shooting neighbor, ruled a hate crime

WILL COUNTY (WBBM NEWSRADIO) - A 70-year-old Lockport Township man is now charged with a hate crime and denied release on what sheriff's say was a racially motivated shooting of his neighbor.

John Shadbar  was in court Thursday on nine felony charges, including attempted murder and a hate crime.

Prosecutors presented cell phone video from witnesses depicting him shooting his neighbor, 45-year-old Melissa Robertson, on Tuesday. Robertson remains in critical but stable condition. The judge ordered him held in custody until trial.

On Friday, the Cook County Sheriff's Office says that it's now investigating Shadbar's wife, who works as a corrections sergeant at the county jail.

She's been de-deputized while that investigation continues.

Prosecutors outlined a years-long history of animosity between neighbors. CBS-2 obtained video of Shadbar reportedly from last month appearing to intimidate the family with a gun.

Shadbar reportedly and frequently directed racial slurs at Robertson's two Black children, 21 and 8-years-old, including on the day of the shooting.

“He would just say the N-word and just call me things that I’m not coming out of my name,” Mikeal Johnson, Robertson’s stepson, recalled.

Post-arrest, prosecutors recovered multiple unlicensed weapons inside his home and revealed Shadbar had been denied a FOID card due to a felony conviction for battery in the 1970s.

“Nothing was ever done,” said Jeanne Beyer, Robertson’s family member. “I don’t care if he was shooting blanks. If he’s in his front yard, waving a gun and doesn’t have a FOID card…I have a FOID card, I can’t stand in my front yard and wave my gun around without some consequences.”

Shadbar is due back in court on May 23. He can appeal his detention at that hearing.

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