JOLIET, Ill. – A 23-year-old man related to most of the victims, shot and killed eight people in suburban Chicago over the weekend, authorities said on Tuesday. The suspected shooter, Romeo Nance, fatally shot himself during a confrontation with law enforcement in Texas.
Authorities provided a clearer timeline of the shootings on Tuesday, revealing that all eight people killed and a ninth person wounded were shot on Sunday. There is no evidence of a motive for the killings yet, according to Illinois officials.
Nance first shot seven people at two relatives’ homes in Joliet on Sunday, and then fired randomly at two men – one outside an apartment building and another on a residential street. The exact relationships between Nance and the victims have not been determined.
The victims identified at the Joliet homes included five adults and two teenage girls. Nance fatally shot himself after U.S. Marshals located him near Natalia, Texas, about 30 miles southwest of San Antonio, more than 1,000 miles from Joliet. Authorities confirmed that he had no known ties to Texas.
The Texas Rangers are investigating Nance’s death, as they believe he shot himself. The Illinois shootings represent the fourth mass killing in the U.S. this year, according to a database maintained by various sources. The victims were found at three separate homes and police were first notified of the shootings on Sunday.
Will County Chief Deputy Dan Jungles said deputies used video surveillance and license plate readers to identify the car of the suspected shooter, and had set up patrols near his known addresses. Authorities believed at one point that a three-year-old boy was missing, but the child was later found with a relative in another city.
“This is probably the worst crime scene I’ve ever been associated with,” Evans said during a news conference outside the Joliet homes. Less than two hours later, law enforcement in Texas surrounded Nance at a gas station.