Five family members were killed and two others gravely wounded in a series of “targeted” shootings in Illinois on Sunday, and cops later took two teens into custody — one a relative of the victims.
The gundowns — characterized by cops as a collective “mass shooting” — took place at three locations around East St. Louis in the southwest part of the state: a public housing complex, a park and another residence, police said.
The five slain victims were identified as Patricia May, 74, Cherie May, 49, Devin May, 24, Shania Thompson, 25, and Quentin Thompson, 21. The two people who were seriously wounded were not identified.
“Because they are all related and because of the definition of what a mass shooting is, and also the proximity that, yes, this is a large city where they deserve multiple complex crime scenes, but because of one common connection and the way this has played, it may be appropriate to characterize it as a mass shooting,” said Illinois State Police Director Brenden Kelly.
“It’s terrible. It’s evil. But it will not keep this city down,” he told reporters Sunday. “The progress we have made will not be lost.”
Two teens — a 15- and 16-year-old who police said are related to each other but did not detail how — were taken into custody after a traffic stop.
Kelly said one of the teens is suspected of having a direct role in the killings.
Police added that one of the teenagers also is a relative of the victims but did not provide additional details.
“The picture is coming together. We have a lot of ISP special agents, troopers, officers from our local partners that are actively involved investigating those particular questions, and I think that will become apparent over time,” Kelly said.
A motive has not yet been established, and no charges have been filed as of Monday morning.
“It makes you wonder, what would make them do such a thing?” East St. Louis Councilman Courtney Hoffman II told KMOV.
“That’s where I’m at with it. Like, why? What would be the reason?”
