Prosecutors seek to keep Bolingbrook man in jail in triple murder case

Prosecutors are seeking to keep a Bolingbrook man in jail in a case where he’s charged with the 2023 murder of a man, a teenaged girl and a child, all of whom were shot during a home invasion.

Since April 27, 2023, Byrion Montgomery, 20, has been in the Will County jail on a $20 million bond, making him the inmate with the highest bond amount in the facility. He would need to post $2 million for his release.

Defendants with money bonds set before the elimination of cash bail on Sept. 18, 2023, can still post money for their release from jail.

But they also have the option of seeking release under the cashless bail provision of the SAFE-T Act.

For the first time since Montgomery’s case was filed, his attorneys with the Will County Public Defender’s Office have filed a motion on Monday that requests his pretrial release under the SAFE-T Act.

A detention hearing has been set for July 16.

Montgomery was 17 when he was charged with the murder of Cartez Daniels, 40, and Samiya Shelton, 17, the latter of whom Montgomery had been dating. He’s also charged with the first-degree murder of Sanai Daniels, 9, who is Shelton’s sister.

Montgomery is charged with the attempted murder of Tania Stewart, the fianceé of Cartez Daniels and the mother of Shelton and Daniels.

Bolingbrook police officers had responded to a residence in the 100 block of Lee Lane after receiving a 911 call made by a 14-year-old boy, according to a petition filed by Will County Assistant State’s Attorney Adam Capelli.

“The boy stated that [Montgomery] was his sister’s boyfriend and that he broke into the residence and started shooting,” Capelli said.

Shelton, Sanai Daniels and Cartez Daniels were each mortally wounded in the shooting, according to Capelli.

Stewart had been shot as well but she was taken to a hospital where her life was saved, he said.

Montgomery was identified as the shooter by Stewart and the 14-year-old boy, Capelli said. A 3-year-old child was present in the residence at the time but was not harmed, he said.

“The murder weapon was later recovered along [Montgomery’s] path of travel based on [Montgomery’s] cellphone records and location analysis,” Capelli said.

During a pretrial hearing on June 15, a fight broke out between Montgomery’s family and Stewart’s family after Montgomery smiled at his family in the courtroom gallery. A judge admonished Montgomery not to communicate with people in the gallery before the fighting occurred.