News/Commentary

Burgler shot dead by gun-owning mom of infant had long record, should have been locked up

August 19, 2025 | | Print Article

A Chicago parolee who broke into a Joliet woman’s home Friday was fatally shot by her as she was hiding in a closet with her child.

When 36-year-old suspect Shelby Hurd broke into the unnamed woman’s home late Friday evening, she grabbed a gun, ran to a second-floor bedroom closet with her child, and then silently waited.

“Police said when the suspect entered the bedroom, the woman opened fire, killing Hurd,” according to CBS News.

Hurd was subsequently pronounced dead by the authorities at 3:05 am Saturday morning, according to a statement from the Will County Coroner’s Office.

This is the Office of Will County Coroner Laurie H. Summers reporting the death of Shelby Hurd a 36 year old Chicago man…

Posted by Will County Coroner’s Office Press Release on Sunday, August 17, 2025

Hurd was found to have been wearing gloves and holding a screwdriver at the time that he was shot.

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“The information we have, and the evidence found at the scene, indicates that Hurd was at the home to commit a burglary,” Joliet Police Sgt. Dwayne English later told The Herald-News.

“What his motive was beyond that and why he chose this residence is still under investigation,” English added.

What’s known is that Hurd has an extensive criminal record spanning decades.

“Hurd was convicted of committing burglaries in 2022 in Tinley Park and in 2023 in Frankfort,” according to The Herald-News. “Hurd also has convictions for burglary and identity theft in Cook County.”

“He also previously served time for possession of a stolen vehicle, burglary to a vehicle, and being a felon in possession of a weapon in 2019 in DuPage County,” Patch.com notes.

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Illinois Department of Corrections records show that he was released on parole just this past February.

According to the Daily Mail, his Facebook “contained numerous disturbing posts.”

“Sacrificed my peace and sleep. ‘I did some sh (sic) you couldn’t imagine,” one post written shortly after his parole began read.

“I’m from the streets… Better look both ways before you cross me,” another post from April 2023 read.

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Joliet, which is about 40 miles southwest of Chicago, is known for crime, including mass shootings.

Last year, a suspect named Romeo Nance killed eight people, including his own mother, in what local police described as “the worst crime scene” they’d ever seen.

According to a recap from the Chicago Sun-Times, Nance first gunned down his mother and an uncle in a home.

He then went down the street, entered another home with a stolen assault rifle, and killed five more relatives.

Afterward, he “killed a man and wounded another in separate attacks nearby that officials have described as random,” the Sun-Times notes.

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Critics have blamed Nance’s murders on the state’s lax crime laws, arguing that he should have already been locked up.

“Nance was charged with robbing two people at knifepoint in October 2019 and with shooting at a woman during an apparent road rage attack in January of [2023],” according to the Sun-Times.

Yet the robbery and theft charges were completely dropped after he pleaded guilty to a felony marijuana charge.

“He was granted time served for a 29-day jail sentence and also received two years of probation,” the Sun-Times notes.

Illinois is notorious for its no-cash bail policy that President Donald Trump recently vowed to eliminate:

Vivek Saxena
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