A Beach Park man has been sentenced to 60 years in prison after he was convicted of driving from Lake County to western Illinois and fatally shooting his ex-girlfriend’s acquaintance.
Dylan Lovato, 26, of Beach Park, was charged in March 2022 by the McDonough County State’s Attorney’s Office with four counts of first-degree murder.
The shooting occurred in Macomb, Illinois, near Western Illinois University.
Then-Macomb Police Chief Jerel Jones said his officers responded around 4:34 a.m. on March 9, 2022, to 425 North Charles Street in Macomb for a report of a person shot inside an apartment.
Officers arrived and talked to a woman who witnessed the incident.
The woman told police her ex-boyfriend, Lovato, keyed into the apartment and shot her acquaintance while he was lying in bed, Jones said.
The victim was identified as Ivan Almanza, according to court documents obtained by WGEM News.
Lovato shot Almanza in the head after the suspect traveled from Lake County, where he had taken two guns with him from a family member’s safe, court documents and prosecutors said.
Almanza was transported to an area hospital where he was pronounced dead.
The woman told police that Lovato left the area in a vehicle immediately following the shooting.
Lovato was later stopped by police the same day in Galesburg, Illinois, where he was arrested.
Lovato graduated from Western Illinois University in 2020 with a degree in law enforcement and justice administration, KHQA News reported.
The McDonough County State’s Attorney’s Office said Lovato’s father is a police officer in the Waukegan area.
Jones said Almanza was not a current student at Western Illinois University. His LinkedIn profile shows he was a former student at the school.
Court records show a jury trial was held last summer in July and August, with the jury convicting Lovato of the murder charge.
A judge on Friday sentenced Lovato to 60 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.
He will receive credit for 1,123 days spent in custody awaiting trial and will be placed on three years of mandatory supervised release.