A suspect has been charged with the shooting deaths of four people, all of them passengers sleeping on a commuter train traveling just outside Chicago early on the morning of Labor Day, police said.
Rhanni Davis, 30, is facing four counts of first-degree murder in connection with what police have called the execution-style killings of four people on an L train as it approached Forest Park Station, an above-ground stop on the Chicago Transit Authority’s Blue Line.
“This wasn’t a robbery. It didn’t appear that he was in a fight with anybody else,” Forest Park deputy chief Christopher Chin told the New York Times.
“This was a random act of violence,” he continued. “He shot and killed four victims when literally they were sleeping on the train.”
In announcing the charges on Tuesday, Kim Foxx, the top prosecutor in Cook County — which includes Chicago and Forest Park — condemned the shooting as “horrific, heinous, and inexplicable”
“We want answers,” she added.
The deadly violence began on Monday just after 5:30 a.m., when Davis allegedly gunned down three people inside a CTA train car, police said. The shooter then moved into a different car on the same train, where he shot a fourth person.
Three of the victims were pronounced dead on the scene, while another died at Loyola University Medical Center a short time later, police said.
They were all shot at close range, Foxx noted.
Those killed include Margaret Miller, 64; Simeon Bihesi, 28; and 60-year-old Adrian Collins, the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office confirmed to USA TODAY. A fourth, male victim has not been publicly identified as his family has yet to be notified.
Police said Davis, who was able to flee the scene, was quickly located with the help of CTA surveillance video. He was arrested on a Pink Line train not long after the deadly shooting, a motive for which still remains unclear.
A handgun was recovered during the arrest, and police found six shell casings on the scene.