Bail set at $300K for man charged with murder in East Chatham shooting

Bail was set at $300,000 during a hearing Monday for a man charged with killing his daughter’s boyfriend last summer in East Chatham.

Cook County prosecutors said Steve Allen’s daughter called him on June 30 after she got into a fight with her boyfriend, Deandre Bennett, and Bennet began throwing her personal belongings out of his apartment in the 7900 block of South Greenwood Avenue.

When Allen, 62, arrived in the block, he argued with Bennett before getting a gun from his car and shooting Bennet in the neck, prosecutors said.

Officers responding about 5:30 p.m. found Bennett, 34, mortally wounded and he was taken to University of Chicago Medical Center, where he died later that night, authorities said.

Two of Bennett’s neighbors told investigators they heard the two men arguing and then a gunshot, prosecutors said. One identified Allen as the man they saw holding a gun after the shooting.

Detectives also used cell phone towers to track Allen from his home in Kankakee to Chicago and back home again around the time of the shooting, prosecutors said.

He was taken into custody Sunday in Kankakee and charged with first-degree murder, authorities said.

Allen, a U.S. Army veteran, is employed by the state’s Department of Human Services and works as a substance abuse counselor at Shapiro Developmental Center in Kankakee, according to his attorney Robert Kerr. He was born and raised in Chicago, but has lived in Kankakee for the last 14 years with his wife.

Kerr said the shooting was committed in self-defense and that Allen could afford a bail of $300,000 with the support of family and friends.

Prosecutors said that Allen never reported the shooting and had denied he was ever there when questioned by investigators.

Judge Michael Clancy set Allen’s bail at $300,000.

His next court date was scheduled for Dec. 28.