East St. Louis, Illinois teens shoot and kill 5 family members after teen girl becomes upset after boyfriend (the other suspect) is not allowed to live at mom’s home. Targeted mass shooting took place at 3 different locations, leaving 2 other relatives seriously injured.
Illinois authorities have arrested two teens, a 16-year-old and 15-year-old in connection with an East St. Louis area shooting at three different locations that left five family members dead over the weekend.
The victims — identified as 49-year-old Cherie L. May, 24-year-old Devin D. May, 74-year-old Patricia A. May, 21-year-old Quentin L. Thompson and 25-year-old Shania W. Thompson, all of East St. Louis — were found shot at 39th and Summit, the Samuel Gompers public housing complex and Jones Park, authorities said.
Two other relatives of the same family were also hospitalized with serious injuries, NBC Chicago reported.
Both suspects, whose identities were not divulged on account of them being minor are related to each other. Of note one of the suspects is related to at least one victim, according to Illinois State Police.
The 74-year-old May worked at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville from 1986 to 2011, according to the school.
Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly during a Sunday press conference described the incident as a ‘targeted mass shooting against a family.’
The fatal shootings unfolded at three separate locations, within just a few miles of each other, officials said. A timeline of when exactly the shootings happened has not been provided.
Kelly said that two 16-year-old suspects were taken into custody in connection with the shootings after one of the suspects was seen driving a vehicle.
Kelly did not provide details on what led up to the shooting, other than to say that the victims were related.
‘These 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,’ said Kelly. ‘The progress we have made will not be lost as a result these terrible acts of violence that have occurred in this community today,’ Kelly said.
While a motive was also unclear, the shootings appeared to be targeted, Kelly said, adding there was no ongoing threat to the public.
It is alleged that one of the suspects, a teen girl is related to the victims. Allegedly, she was upset that her boyfriend, the other suspect, wasn’t allowed to live with her at her mother’s home after being thrown out of his home.
Police asked anyone with additional information about the shootings to contact East St. Louis police or Illinois State Police.
Kelly said it’s possible some of the killings occurred before Sunday morning, but that most occurred ‘primarily today.’ He declined to say if any weapons had been recovered.
An investigation remains underway, Kelly said. Charges are forthconing the official said according to FOX2.
East St. Louis, southwestern Illinois, has a population of approximately 18,000 people.
