Shooting in Joliet kills 7 in two different homes

A representational image of a police officer walking at a crime scene. — AFP/File

At least seven people were shot dead Monday inside two residences in the 2200 block of West Acres Road, according to the Joliet Police Department as the authorities are looking for a suspect, local media reported.   

Joliet police chief Bill Evans told reporters that the suspect, Romeo Nance, had a criminal history and that Monday's victims were related to him.

According to local media reports, Dan Jungles, the deputy chief of the Will County Sheriff’s Office, said officers had been staking out the scene of Sunday's shooting overnight after they identified Nance's vehicle as being connected.

Jungles said: "When he didn’t return to the scene, officers went to check Nance’s last-known address in the 2200 block of West Acres Avenue and later, went across the street to a related home and found blood outside, prompting them to enter, where they found two victims."

Later, officials went across the street and found the other five deceased victims.

“I've been a policeman for 29 years, this is probably the worst crime scene I’ve ever been associated with,” Evans said.

According to authorities, at around 4:27pm, officers responded to a shooting at the Pheasant Run Apartments in unincorporated Joliet Township and found a man bleeding from the head with an apparent gunshot wound.

The victim — identified as 28-year-old Toyosi Bakare — was pronounced dead after he was transported to an area hospital.

Jungle said "

he was originally from Nigeria and had been in Will County for the past three years."