A man has been sentenced to 24 years in prison for pleading guilty to the “cold-blooded and calculated” ambush and robbery of a victim outside a motel in Waukegan.

Shava Jackson-Spicer, 29, of Joliet, and Darius Kirby, 34, of Riverdale, were charged in March 2021 with multiple counts of first-degree murder.

Waukegan Police Department and Park City Police Department responded to Motel 6, 31 North Green Bay Road in Waukegan on August 26, 2020, for a report of shots fired.

Officers arrived and arrested Jerry L. Reid Jr. of Joliet. He located a victim identified as (32) with six gunshot wounds outside the motel.

Reid was transported to a nearby hospital, where he was pronounced dead, police said.

Surveillance videos played at the March hearing showed Kirby arriving at the motel in a black Dodge Challenger that belonged to him.

Kirby and two others were seen searching and waiting Reid Prosecutors told them to leave the motel.

The videos also show Kirby and two others chasing the victim to the side of the motel, where the victim is then seen being seriously injured by officers.

Officers testified they found a Dodge Challenger keychain nearby. Reid Found. The same keychain also unlocked the Dodge Challenger registered to Kirby.

Other expert witnesses were able to identify Kirby at the scene through cell phone records and highway records.

Kirby was found guilty of the charges following a five-day jury trial in March.

Jackson-Spicer, who has not yet gone to trial, signed a negotiated plea agreement with the Lake County State’s Attorney’s Office on Thursday.

In exchange for dismissal of murder charges, he pleaded guilty to armed robbery with a firearm, a Class X felony.

According to the plea accepted by the judge, Jackson-Spicer was sentenced to 24 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.

He will receive more than 1,300 days of credit for time spent in the Lake County Jail while awaiting his trial.

Lake County State’s Attorney Eric Rinehart said after a hearing in March that Kirby committed “a cold-blooded and calculated murder that he devised while making the long drive from Joliet, Illinois, to Waukegan.”

“Mr. Kirby then ambushed his victim. This type of planned murder warrants a very long prison sentence,” Rinehart said.

Lake County Judge George Strickland revoked Kirby’s ability to post bail following the verdict.

Kirby, who has not yet been sentenced, faces 20 to 60 years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.

He is scheduled to appear in court again on November 14.