Man convicted of 2014 murder in Joliet faces life in prison

A 31-year-old man faces up to life in prison after he was convicted of a 2014 murder in southwest suburban Joliet.

Aloysius Alexander was convicted of first-degree murder, aggravated battery with a firearm, and unlawful use of a weapon by a felon after a bench trial before Judge Carla Alessio Policandriotes, according to a statement from the Will County state’s attorney’s office.

On Dec. 6, 2014, Alexander and two friends went to an apartment building in the 500 block of North Chicago Street in Joliet to confront Ledontia Lockhart over a $400 money order he had been accused of taking and cashing, according to prosecutors. The money order belonged to one of Alexander’s friend’s girlfriend.

Lockhart’s father, 59-year-old Johnny Lockhart, came down the stairs in the alley when he heard noise from an altercation between his son and the three men who came to confront him.

Alexander opened fire on Johnny Lockhart and Ledontia Lockhart as they walked back up the stairs, according to prosecutors. The older man was killed, but the younger man survived.

Alexander’s friends ran to their car and he followed them, according to prosecutors. They dropped him off at his apartment complex, and he turned himself in to police the following day.

Ledontia Lockart and Alexander’s friends testified against him at his trial, according to prosecutors.

Alexander, of the 300 block of North Bluff Street in Joliet, faces up to life in prison when he is sentenced Dec. 2.

“Aloysius Alexander is a violent and cold-blooded killer who gunned down an innocent man for no apparent reason after shooting his son in the back,” State’s Attorney James Glasgow said in the statement.

“He will be placed behind prison bars in the Illinois Department of Corrections where he can spend his time contemplating this senseless act of violence.”