A year ago, two cars pulled up next to each other somewhere near the intersection of 10th street and Washington Avenue. What ensued was a high-speed car chase and gun battle through the streets of downtown Racine.
When all was said and done, both cars were wrecked and bullet riddled. One was turned over and engulfed in flames. The other crashed into a building near the intersection of 5th Street and Main Street.
A litany of charges were issued Monday and Tuesday for five of the six men were involved in the high-speed shootout.
According to a criminal complaint, George Malone III, 25, was driving a Buick down Washington Avenue Feb. 6 when he and two other passengers got into an argument with three other men that pulled up next to them in a Lincoln.
As Malone approached 10th Street, he handed a gun to Delvin Hoard, 20, who was riding in the passenger seat. He told Hoard that he didn’t have to use the weapon, but if a situation arises it’s there to be used.
Shortly after this, the passengers in the Lincoln — driven by Romero Ellison — fired shots at the Buick. Malone peeled off down 10th street at a high-speed. Ellison pursued them and his passengers, Larry Ellison Jr., 26, and Lushious Hand, 26. They continued to fire at the car in front of them.
Hoard and Darryl Nunn, who was sitting in the backseat pleaded with Malone to turn off the street and slow down. He didn’t. And Nunn eventually turned around and shot back at the Lincoln pursuing them. Malone rounded the corner onto Main Street and began heading north. At this time, the Lincoln pulled up next to them and the suspects, and “really started shooting,” according to a criminal complaint.
Larry Ellison and Hand began firing into the passenger side of the Buick. They shot out a rear passenger side window, where a woman was sitting.
She had been taken along on this violent ride after accepting a ride to work from Nunn, who was sitting next to her in the backseat. Hoard, who was in the passenger seat, fired back at the men in the Lincoln. The cars sped down Main street reaching speeds of 85 miles-per-hour. All the while the men traded shots back and forth.
Somewhere around Memorial Square, Malone swiped the Lincoln speeding next to them, sending both cars out of control into a crash, according to the complaint.
The Lincoln ended up on its passenger side, and by the time police responded was engulfed in flames. Malone, Hoard and Nunn all fled the crashed vehicle leaving the woman, who was suffering from a gunshot wound in her back.
She eventually left the scene, and later told police she was afraid she would lose her job if she didn’t show up to work. In fact, It was at her job that she realized she had been shot.
When police arrived on the scene, the only remaining suspects were Romero and Larry Ellison.
Romero was unconscious, and a passerby was giving him CPR. Romero later went into a coma from a brain bleed. Larry was sitting near the crash with blood dripping down his face, according to police, and had a broken hip and leg injury.
While investigating the scene, police found three guns and Malone’s driver’s license near the vehicle he crashed. Shell casings and bullets were found all along the path of the chase, according to a criminal complaint
The three men in Romero Ellison’s vehicle have each been charged with four counts of first-degree intentional homicide as party to a crime, and six counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety. Larry Ellison and Hand are both being charged with possession of a weapon by a felon.
Malone, the driver of the Buick, is being charged with two counts of hit and run causing great bodily harm, three counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety, possession of a firearm by a felon and 11 counts of felony bail jumping, according to circuit court records.
Malone’s backseat passenger, Nunn, is charged with two counts of first-degree recklessly endangering safety and possession of a firearm by a felon, according to circuit court records.
Hoard was charged and convicted of one count of discharging a firearm from a vehicle in 2016, according to circuit court records.