DIXON – Bail will remain at $2 million for the Dixon High School senior shot and wounded Wednesday morning in a pursuit after firing into the high school gym during graduation practice.
Matthew A. Milby Jr. appeared before Lee Count Court Judge Ronald Jacobson via video this morning in wide-striped black-and-white jail garb. He is represented by Dixon attorney Thomas D. Murray, whose request to have bail reduced to $200,000 was denied.
Milby is charged with three felonies involving aggravated discharge of a firearm, the first two for firing at school resource officer Mark Dallas and gym teacher Andrew McKay, and the third for firing a gun in a school building.
All are Class X felonies, the most serious levied in Illinois. The first two are punishable by a mandatory 10 to 46 years in prison, the third by 6 to 30 years. Each charge also comes with a mandatory 3 years' supervised release.
Milby has a preliminary status hearing before Judge Jacquelyn D. Ackert at 9 a.m. Wednesday.
During the 15-minute hearing, the thin, boyish 19-year-old with short-cropped brown hair spoke calmly and respectfully, answering Jacobson's questions and once asking the judge to repeat the third charge against him.
His case has drawn state and national attention, and multiple news outlets were at the hearing, as were his parents, Julie and Matthew A. Milby Sr.
Milby, who has not attended school for several weeks but still was enrolled and eligible to graduate, took a 9mm semi-automatic rifle to practice, being held in the Lancaster Gym, shortly after 8 a.m., fired at McKay, then took off running when confronted and pursued by Dallas.
He fired at Dallas outside the gym; the Dixon police officer returned fire, hitting Milby in the upper shoulder. No one else was injured.
Milby was released from KSB Hospital shortly after 10 a.m. Thursday and taken to the jail.
The investigation continues, "and more charges may be filed in the near future," Dixon police said in a news release Thursday.