EAST ST. LOUIS, IL - Police have taken two teenagers into custody after a horrific shooting spree that allegedly targeted a family in southern Illinois. The carnage left five people dead and two others wounded, police said.
USA Today reports the suspects, 15- and 16-years old, were arrested on July 12 at Frank Holten State Park, a recreational area located near East St. Louis, the Illinois State Police said. The two suspects were taken into custody after state police executed a PIT maneuver on a vehicle being driven by one of the suspects.
At a news conference, state police Director Brendan Kelly said the shootings took place at three locations, all located within a few miles of each other and all which targeted members of the same family.
“At least seven members of the targeted family were shot at multiple locations in the East. St. Louis area, and as of right now, five victims have been confirmed deceased,” Kelly said, noting that two other victims had been seriously wounded.
Kelly said that at least one of the suspects is related to the victims, however state police declined to provide further details on the suspects, and said the investigation is ongoing.
East St. Louis is located in St. Clair County, Illinois, and is a small community with only 18,000 residents, according to the U.S. Census Bureau, and is located across the Mississippi River from downtown St. Louis.
Those identified as deceased by the Illinois State Police were Cherie L. May, 49; Devin D. May, 24; Patricia A. May, 74; Quentin L. Thompson, 21; and Shania W. Thompson, 25.
Police said that one victim was killed on North 39th Street and Summit Ave., three were killed at the Samuel Gompers Homes, and the fifth died at Jones Park. Two other victims involved in the shooting at Jones Park sustained serious injuries and were being treated at a local hospital.
“Thes alleged acts of horrific violence, taking this number of lives, here in this community, it’s terrible. It’s evil, but it will not keep this city down,” Kelly said.
The incident is the latest domestic-related shooting in the country in the past few months.
On June 9, a man killed four people, including his parents, brother and his brother’s girlfriend in a shooting at the family’s home in suburban Detroit. He later surrendered to police, who said he had a “contentious relationship” with his parents.
On June 1 in a small eastern Iowa town, a 52-year-old man killed six members of his family, also resulting from a domestic dispute. He later killed himself when confronted by police officers.
Houston, Texas was also the scene of an apparent domestic shooting, where four relatives were found fatally shot inside their home. Police later reported that evidence showed a 52-year-old man shot his wife and two children before killing himself.
Eight children were killed in a domestic-related shooting in Shreveport, Louisiana in April, seven of them his own children. He also injured his wife and another woman.
Finally, also in April, former Virginia Lt. Gov. Justin Fairfax killed his wife before committing suicide. The couple was allegedly involved in a “complicated or messy divorce,” according to Fairfax County Police Department Chief Ken Davis. While the couple’s teenage son and daughter were home at the time of the murder-suicide, they were unharmed.
The apparent increase in domestic-related shootings spurred the Johns Hopkins Center for Gun Violence Solutions to invoke their anti-gun rhetoric, complaining about “the accessibility and availability of guns in America.”
According to research, almost half of all women murdered in the country are killed by a current or former intimate partner.
The anti-gun center said that about 68% of “mass shooting cases” between 2014 and 2019 involved a perpetrator who either killed family or intimate partners, or had a history of domestic violence.
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