LANCASTER COUNTY — A 23-year-old Columbia man will serve up to 10 years in prison for brutally attacking a 62-year-old man last year, according to the Lancaster County District Attorney’s Office.
Shakim McIlwain was sentenced to a 4- to 10-year prison term by Lancaster County Judge Donald Totaro, who called McIlwain “a danger to society.”
McIlwain was convicted in March of aggravated assault, criminal conspiracy and related counts in the attack of a 62-year-old victim on Sept. 3, 2017. McIlwain was part of a group of people that was being loud at 3 a.m. on Walnut Street. The victim came outside and asked the group to leave, and McIlwain attacked him.
The victim sustained facial fractures and a permanent injury to his right eye.
While sentencing McIlwain, Totaro said the victim now feels trapped in his own home, where he has lived for 35 years.
Assistant District Attorney Ande Gonzalez, who won the trial conviction, called the beating an assault on the safety and security of everyone in Columbia. Others with McIlwain also took part in beating the man.
Gonzalez noted that after the initial group assault, McIlwain returned and beat the injured man even further.
One of the other individuals — 22-year-old Randy Cornell Howard — left a cellphone at the scene, which the victim’s wife recovered and turned over to police. A witness also provided police with license plate information regarding the vehicle that fled the scene, which lead investigators to McIlwain.
Howard is also charged in the incident. His case is pending.
McIlwain also was ordered to pay $910 in restitution costs.
