On the evening of July 3, 2023, police were sent at 7:06 p.m. to the 2500 block of West Springfield Avenue in Champaign, Illinois, after reports of a shooting.
Inside an apartment at what local coverage identifies as the Barrington Apartments complex, officers found Marcus A. Catchings Jr., a 27-year-old Black male, unresponsive with an apparent gunshot wound. Paramedics pronounced the 27-year-old male deceased at the scene at 9:15 p.m. that night.
Detectives noted evidence of gunfire on the apartment door, and a welfare check led them inside, where they began a homicide investigation and canvassed for witnesses and video.
The coroner scheduled an autopsy for July 7, 2023, as the inquiry into the killing of 27-year-old Marcus A. Catchings continued.
Leads developed over the following weeks culminated in an arrest. On August 25, 2023, police arrested 24-year-old William Wesley of Champaign in Atlanta, Georgia, in connection with the shooting death of 27-year-old male victim, Marcus A. Catchings Jr.
He was transported to Champaign County, where he was booked into the county correctional center; on September 11, 2023, he made his first court appearance on first-degree murder charges.
In July 2025, the case went before a Champaign County jury. Coverage of the trial reported that both sides agreed Wesley fired the fatal shot that killed Marcus A. Catchings Jr., while the defense argued self-defense and testimony described the confrontation as arising from a drug deal gone awry.
After several days of testimony and deliberations, jurors rejected the self-defense claim and found Wesley guilty of first-degree murder.
