FOREST PARK, Ill. (AP) — A man suspected of killing four people aboard a Chicago-area transit train shot them at close range while they were asleep, officials said Tuesday.
Forest Park Mayor Rory Hoskins said the victims likely didn’t even see the shooter.
Margaret Miller, 64, and three men including Simeon Bihesi, 28, and Adrian Collins, 60, were fatally shot, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office.
Preliminary investigation shows the victims were on two different cars as the Blue Line train was headed toward Forest Park, police said.
But police found and arrested Davis thanks to video footage from the train, Hoskins said.
Forest Park police and the Cook County state’s attorney’s office did not immediately respond to messages about Davis’ legal representation.
The Cook County public defender’s office said it wasn’t representing him.
Forest Park police are used to calls to the busy transit stops there, Hoskins said.
The CTA’s Green Line also ends in Forest Park and runs nearly 24 hours a day.
Hoskins, whose position as mayor is part time, said he couldn’t recall a homicide being reported in Forest Park in years.
The Forest Park, Illinois. (AP) — Authorities said on Tuesday that a man who is suspected of killing four people on a train in the Chicago area shot them at close range while they were asleep.
Before 5:30 a.m., there was gunfire. M. Monday, on a Blue Line train traveling close to the line’s terminus in Forest Park, a suburb located roughly 10 miles (16 kilometers) west of downtown Chicago, on the L system serving the Chicago area. Later, according to police, Rhanni S. Davis, 30, was taken into custody on another Chicago Transit Authority L line. Davis was accused by the authorities on Tuesday of four first-degree murder charges.
The victims most likely didn’t even see the shooter, according to Forest Park Mayor Rory Hoskins.
As they slept, Hoskins told The Associated Press, “they were shot execution-style.”.
The Cook County medical examiner’s office reports that three men, including Simeon Bihesi, 28, and Adrian Collins, 60, as well as 64-year-old Margaret Miller, were shot and killed. Their addresses were listed as unknown for all of them. The identity of the fourth victim has not yet been made public, according to police, who said they were still in the process of getting in touch with his family.
The Blue Line train was traveling toward Forest Park when the victims were found to be on two separate cars, according to an initial investigation, according to police. From that suburb, through downtown Chicago, to O’Hare International Airport, the Blue Line operates around-the-clock. It travels both above and below the surface.
Suspect shooter ran off. But, according to Hoskins, police were able to locate and apprehend Davis because of train CCTV.
There was no phone number for Davis in the public domain. A message was sent on Tuesday to the specified email address, but it was not answered right away. About Davis’s legal representation, messages were not immediately answered by the Forest Park police or the Cook County state’s attorney’s office. His legal representation was denied by the Cook County Public Defender’s Office.
Kim Foxx, the state’s attorney for Cook County, made the announcement during a media briefing in Forest Park on Tuesday evening. Davis is expected to appear in court on Wednesday at noon. More information would be revealed during the court hearing, she said, calling the shootings a “horrific, heinous and inexplicable act of violence.”.
Police stated during the briefing that they have not yet established a motive.
Security footage, according to CTA officials, “proved to be vital” and they were helping with the investigation. “.
CTA President Dorval Carter Jr. stated, “Even though this matter is still being investigated, all available information points this being an isolated incident.”. said in a press release.
According to Hoskins, calls to the crowded transit stops in Forest Park are commonplace for the police. The CTA’s Green Line, which runs almost nonstop throughout the day, also ends in Forest Park.
Over the years, charitable organizations have also made use of the transit hubs for outreach, offering medical attention and other services to homeless individuals who board trains in search of safety, especially during the winter.
However, new anxieties have been raised by the mass shooting in the 14,000-person community. Part-time mayor Hoskins stated that he could not remember a Forest Park homicide in many years.
When his adolescent son dropped him off at school on Tuesday morning, he observed a little more intently than normal.
“People seem uneasy,” he remarked. “Our goal is to give them a sense of security.
. “.
