A former Salinan was arrested recently on an outstanding warrant in connection with an officer-involved shooting that happened in southern Illinois in 2016.
According to the U.S. Marshals Colorado Violent Offender Task Force, 30-year-old Xavier Lewis was arrested on January 11th in Colorado.
KFVS TV in Colorado reports Lewis, along with 2 other Salina men, was originally indicted in 2018.
Alex B. Karcher of Salina was sentenced in February 2019 to 27.5 years in the Illinois department of Corrections.
At a hearing on his plea, Karcher admitted that he, along with others, conspired to possess with the intent to deliver more than 5,000 grams of a substance containing cannabis in Jackson and Williamson Counties of Illinois during the period of December 2014 through August 2, 2016. He admitted that on July 31, 2016, that he and other co-conspirators came to Carbondale, Illinois, to collect on a debt from a previous drug deal.
On Sunday evening, July 31, 2016, he admitted that he discharged a firearm seven times at the pursuing police car which gave chase to the vehicle he was riding in after officers observed the vehicle speed away from a shooting scene in the 700 block of North Robert A. Stalls, in Carbondale. One of those shots, fired on Dillinger Road north of Carbondale, struck Carbondale police officer Trey Harris in the eye, thereby causing great bodily harm.
A third co-defendant, Matthew D. McCray of Salina, was sentenced in October 2019 to nine years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.
Jail records Friday indicate Xavier Lewis is currently in the Bent County Jail in Colorado awaiting extradition to Illinois. He is facing charges which include aggravated discharge of a firearm, aggravated battery with a firearm, conspiracy to possess with intent to deliver cannabis (more than 5,000 grams), and cannabis trafficking.
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Xavier Lewis photo via Bent County Jail
