A rush-hour run up the Bishop Ford ended in what prosecutors called an expressway ambush, and now the shooter is headed to prison. Calvin Woods, 32, of Matteson, pleaded guilty on April 1 to second-degree murder for a 2023 shooting on northbound I-94 near Dolton Road that left 30-year-old Travon Mackie dead. Cook County Judge Angela Petrone sentenced Woods to 20 years after he admitted to the reduced charge in court, in a case that ended with both cars smashed into the concrete median.
Guilty plea and sentence
As reported by the Chicago Tribune, Woods entered a guilty plea to second-degree murder and received a 20-year prison term from Judge Petrone. Prosecutors told the Tribune that shots were fired from an Audi into the Toyota Camry driven by Mackie and that investigators later found no weapon in Mackie's vehicle.
How investigators say the crash unfolded
Illinois State Police troopers responded at about 7:27 p.m. on Aug. 28, 2023, to northbound I-94 near Dolton Road, where they found an abandoned Audi A4 and a Toyota Camry that had crashed into the concrete median, the Chicago Sun-Times reported. The Camry's driver, Travon M. Mackie, had suffered multiple gunshot wounds. He was taken to a hospital and died of his injuries days later.
Arrest and earlier coverage
State police say Woods was later identified as an occupant of the Audi and was arrested on Feb. 22, 2024, with help from the FBI and U.S. Marshals, according to FOX 32 Chicago. Local outlets closely watched the case when he was first charged last year; see Matteson man charged for earlier coverage.
Legal notes
Court records reviewed by the Chicago Tribune state that Woods told investigators he believed the circumstances would justify the killing, a claim the court ultimately labeled an unreasonable belief. Records also show Woods was a felon on electronic monitoring in a federal narcotics case at the time of the crash, a detail Judge Petrone addressed during sentencing.
Why the case matters
The Illinois State Police have made expressway shootings a high-priority investigative focus and publish resources explaining their use of automated license-plate readers and an expressway-shooting dashboard that tracks incidents across the Chicago area. Those tools and multi-agency cooperation are central to investigations of fast-moving highway shootings and, prosecutors say, to bringing cases like this to court, per the Illinois State Police.
