Matthew Milby Jr. sentenced for 2018 Dixon High School shooting

Published: Oct. 4, 2022 at 11:25 AM CDT

DIXON, Ill. (WIFR) - Matthew Milby Jr. will spend 30 years in prison for the 2018 shooting at a Dixon High School graduation practice.

Court began at 9 a.m. Tuesday in the sentencing of Matthew Milby Jr. before Judge John Redington at the Lee County courthouse in Dixon. Judge Redington handed down the sentence just two hours into the hearing. Allowing Milby to make a statement before his sentence.

“I cannot undo what I did but I can hope that this statement brings some peace to those affected by my actions,” he said.

Milby Jr. received 30 years for his charge of aggravated discharge of a firearm toward a police officer and 30 years for aggravated discharge of a firearm in a school, which he will serve at the same time. He will have to serve 85% of his prison sentence and has 1,601 days of credit, or a little over four years, for time served.

Milby Jr. plead guilty earlier this year to the two aggravated discharge of a firearm charges. In exchange for his guilty plea, the court dismissed all other charges against him, including attempted murder. Lee County State’s Attorney Charles Boonstra and other members of the prosecution wanted judge Redington to make an example out of Milby Jr, to show what happens if you bring a gun onto school property.

“While this result is not what we wanted, we can hope the community can view it as the beginning of the healing process of the wounds Matthew Milby inflicted on all of us on May 16, 2018,″ Boonstra said in a news conference after the hearing.

The former Dixon High School student opened fire during graduation practice at the high school on May 16, 2018 and was held in state custody since the shooting. This means he has 26 years left to serve.