A Chicago man will spend nearly seven years behind bars after admitting he chased down and shot a man outside a Chinatown nightclub following a brawl, then fired at a second man who wasn't hit. Terris Williams, 32, pleaded guilty to attempted murder and was sentenced to eight years in prison for the February 9, 2025 shooting that left one victim struck in the right buttocks.
According to CWB Chicago, the trouble began inside the nightclub, where a 35-year-old man got into a fight with several people and pepper spray was deployed. Prosecutors said Williams continued the confrontation even after the brawl spilled outside and dispersed, ultimately grabbing a firearm from his friend's pants and chasing the victim down. Williams allegedly threatened to end the man's life before firing several shots at him, according to the allegations detailed by prosecutors.
Chicago police responding to reports of shots fired in the 400 block of West 24th Street found Williams still at the scene when they arrived. Officers reportedly watched him open a car door and lean inside; a search of the vehicle turned up a firearm on the floorboard that prosecutors said matched the caliber of the weapon used in the shooting. Someone also shot out a security guard's car window during the chaos outside the club, the outlet reported.
Second Man Targeted, Missed
Police told Fox 32 Chicago that Williams also fired shots at a second man, 36, during the same altercation but missed him, leaving him uninjured. Fox 32 reported that Williams was initially charged with first-degree attempted murder, aggravated battery by discharging a firearm, and aggravated battery causing great bodily harm after his arrest.
The shooting victim was treated at the scene by Chicago Fire Department paramedics before being transported in good condition to Stroger Hospital, according to a CBS Chicago report on the wave of shootings across the city that same February weekend. The 2:05 a.m. shooting was one of several violent incidents Chicago police responded to that weekend, per that outlet's account.
Guilty Plea and Sentencing
Cook County Circuit Court Judge Steven Watkins presided over Williams' guilty plea, according to CWB Chicago. Watkins sits in the Criminal Division at the Leighton Criminal Courthouse at 26th Street and California Avenue, the court venue where major Cook County felony cases are resolved, as noted by South Side Weekly. Cook County State's Attorney Eileen O'Neill Burke, who took office after the 2024 election succeeding Kim Foxx, has maintained strict prosecution standards on violent gun offenses through plea negotiations in 2025 and 2026, per that outlet.
Because Williams pleaded guilty to attempted first-degree murder, he falls under Illinois' truth-in-sentencing law, 730 ILCS 5/3-6-3, which requires defendants convicted of that offense or aggravated battery with a firearm to serve a mandatory minimum of 85 percent of their sentence, according to the Illinois General Assembly. Under that statute, Williams cannot earn more than 4.5 days of credit per month. Applying Illinois Department of Corrections calculation standards, 85 percent of an eight-year term works out to roughly 6.8 years of physical imprisonment, which lines up with Williams' anticipated release date of November 21, 2031, once credit for time already served in pretrial custody since his February 2025 arrest is factored in, according to the Uptown People's Law Center.
A Block With a History, a Neighborhood in Flux
The 400 block of West 24th Street isn't new to overnight gun violence. Fox 32 Chicago reported that the same block was the site of a November 2022 shooting in which two men were grazed in the head by gunfire that penetrated a building wall; both survived in good condition, and Area One detectives investigated at the time.
That history sits inside CPD's 9th District, which includes Chinatown and has been the focus of targeted safety efforts in recent years. Robberies in the 9th District dropped 46 percent between 2024 and 2025 as overall crime fell in areas covered by police strategic plans, according to police data reported by McKinley Park News. That decline follows a period when CPD Beat 914, which covers Chinatown, recorded 176 robberies in 2022 — the highest of any single beat in Chicago that year — prompting community safety initiatives including Cantonese- and Mandarin-speaking officer patrols, according to WTTW News.
