There apparently is no motive in a mass shooting that left eight people dead in the Joliet area and concluded with a manhunt where the alleged killer died in Texas.
Romeo Nance, 23, is suspected of shooting nine people, eight of them fatally, at four separate crime scenes in the Joliet area. He took his own life during a confrontation with Texas police on Monday night at a gas station, according to authorities. He reportedly died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, authorities said.
During a press conference Tuesday afternoon, authorities did not provide details on what prompted the killings and why Nance fled to Texas. Nance was located around 8:30 p.m. Monday evening by U.S. Marshals in Natalia, Texas, which is southwest of San Antonio and about 1,200 miles from Joliet.
According to police, a man was injured in a shooting in the 200 block of Davis Street around 4:15 p.m. Sunday. That 42-year-old man was shot in the leg and suffered non-life-threatening injuries.
About 10 minutes after the shooting on Davis Street, Will County Deputy Sheriff Dan Jungles said his deputies were called to a house at 5 Pheasant Run Lane in Pheasant Run apartment complex. There, a 28-year-old man, identified as Toyosi Bakare, was found with a gunshot wound to his head in the Preston Heights neighborhood. He later died of injuries at a local hospital.
Because there were videos from the shooting on Davis Street, Jungles said police were able to identify the suspect by his red Toyota Camry’s license plate number and set up surveillance near Nance’s last known address in the 2200 block of West Acres Road. But there was no sign of him as of midnight Sunday, according to Jungles.
Since there was no response and authorities learned the people who lived across the street were related to those who resided in the home under surveillance, Joliet police went to check on the house Monday and discovered blood outside, Jungles said. Police then entered both houses to check for injured people, he added.
Ultimately, five people were found dead in one house at 2225 W. Acres Road and two were found dead inside the other house at 2212 W. Acres Road. Four of the victims in one house were females and the other was a 38-year-old male. The ages of the women were 14, 16, 20 and 38. The two victims in the other house were a 47-year-old woman and 35-year-old male. Police did not release the names of the victims.
“I’ve been a policeman for 29 years and this is the worst crime scene I have ever been associated with,” said Joliet Police Chief Bill Evans.
Evans on Tuesday afternoon said in the midst of their investigation, there was a 3-year-old boy unaccounted for in those homes. But that child was later located safely in a nearby community, he said.
“This is still a complicated and active investigation,” said Evans. But robbery has been ruled out as a motive, he noted.
Jungles said authorities are doing all they can to put the pieces together to determine why this mass shooting occurred.
“In many cases like this, we may never find out the motive behind it,” he said. “But his reign of terror in our community is over and it is now time for everyone to come together.”
Police on Tuesday said they do not believe Bakare, who was from Nigeria, was related to the other victims, but could somehow be connected to Nance, they said. According to police, Nance knew all of his victims. Police also said Nance has an extensive criminal history but did not provide further details.