A McLean County judge has sentenced a Bloomington man to more than a century in prison connected to a 2021 murder in an apartment complex east of Downtown Bloomington.
Osman McLaurin Jr., 29, was found guilty of first-degree murder and a weapons charge in June after a five-day trial for the fatal shooting of 30-year-old Geoffrey Rowry.
That was nearly five years after the incident in the 800 block of East Washington Street.
According to McLean County State's Attorney Erika Reynolds, officers responded at 8:58 p.m. on Nov. 4, 2021, following a report of a person shot. Rowry was unresponsive when officers arrived, according to Bloomington Police. He was transported to a hospital and later pronounced dead.
Reynold said two witnesses reported seeing two men running through a nearby alley. One, later determined by authorities to be McLaurin, was limping. Another witness saw an SUV fleeing the area.
Officers were told Rowry and McLaurin "recently had a falling out," Reynolds said in a press release.
"In fact, the two had an altercation at the Law and Justice Center in September earlier the same year," Reynolds said.
McLaurin was scheduled to appear in court the next day for an unrelated hearing but never showed. Peoria Police confirmed McLaurin had checked in OSF St. Francis Medical Center in Peoria with an apparent gunshot wound.
McLaurin was arrested in the days following the shooting on outstanding warrants for failing to appear in other cases. He was then charged with obstructing justice, Reynolds said, for refusing to comply with investigators who had a search warrant to take photos of his gunshot wound.
Authorities later determined the wound was self-inflicted using a similar weapon to the one used to kill Rowry.
McLaurin is required to serve 97 of his 104-year sentence, to be served consecutively with sentences issued for prior convictions. He'll receive credit for more than three years spent in custody throughout the legal process.
"Let this serve as a reminder to those who impose violence on others within our community that the criminal justice partners serving McLean County will relentlessly seek justice," said Reynolds.
Police Chief Jamal Simington thanked officers, detective and the state's attorney's office in a statement.
"Our thoughts are with Mr. Rowry's family and loved ones," Simington said. "No sentence can undo their loss, but we hope this outcome provides some measure of closure."
