DEMESHEO MARTEZ "POODER" LOVELACE
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VICTIM IDENTIFIED IN SUNDAY FATAL SHOOTING
DECATUR - The 36-year-old man found
dead from multiple gunshot wounds Sunday evening has been identified as Demesheo M. Lovelace of
Decatur, according to the Macon County Coroner's Office. Coroner Michael E. Day said in a news
release Monday that Lovelace was pronounced dead at 6:55 p.m. Sunday at the scene near the 900 block
of South Main Street. An autopsy was set for Monday afternoon in the McLean County Morgue in
Bloomington, and an inquest is pending. Police responded to a shots fired call in the 4:31 p.m. in
the 1000 block of South Water Street. They found Lovelace, who had suffered multiple gunshot wounds
after fleeing the shooters to a wooded area behind Greenwood Cemetery where he had been caught and
killed.
Police have said they are looking for three suspects in the shooting:
Joseph D. Fox, 27, Darelle D. Fox, 31, and Shawn L. Eubanks, 25. All three men are considered armed
and dangerous, Sgt. Chris Copeland said in a news release early Monday. Lovelace's family had
reacted with shock to the news of his death when it first broke Sunday evening. His first cousin,
Shante Davis, was told of the death in a phone call from an uncle. "I had just talked to my cousin
like two weeks ago, this is what is so crazy," said Davis, 38, on Sunday evening. "Everybody is in
shock." She said her cousin, known as "Pooder," had problems in his life and described him as
planning to leave the Decatur area and make a new start in Atlanta, Ga., where his mother lives.
Davis said he couldn't leave now because he had to finish up what she described as a period of
probation following a prison sentence for selling drugs. Court records show Lovelace pleaded guilty
in 2006 to unlawful possession of cocaine with intent to deliver and was sentenced to 17 years in
prison, followed by three years of supervised release. He was also fined more than $173,000. Now,
instead of him leaving Illinois to turn his life around, Davis said her cousin's scattered family was
coming back to Illinois to mourn his death. "His dad is all the way back in Mississippi and just got
wind of all this," she added. "And there is his mom and his brother in Atlanta; we've got half his
family on their way back here." Decatur Police have appealed for anyone with information related to
the shooting or whereabouts of the suspects to call them.
The Herald & Review
(Decatur, Illinois)
03 JUL 2017 * E-Edition
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The Herald & Review
(Decatur, Illinois)
15 MAY 2021 * E-Edition
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