A man suspected of killing eight people in Chicago suburb homes is believed to have died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after being confronted by law enforcement officials, police said.
The suspect, identified as Romeo Nance, 23, was located by US Marshals near Natalia where he shot himself with a handgun after a confrontation.
His death ends a frantic manhunt for the “armed and dangerous” suspect wanted for the murder of eight people at three locations in Chicago on Monday.
Police in Will County in Illinois and Joliet are yet to determine his motive for killing people, said the authorities, adding that Nance knew the victims. The victims have not been publicly identified.
The FBI’s fugitive task force had been assisting local police in the search of the suspect, Joliet Police chief William Evans said.
The victims were found on Sunday and Monday at three separate residences, authorities told reporters at a news conference earlier on Monday evening.
One of the people killed was found on Sunday in a home in Will County. Seven others were found on Monday at two homes on the same block in Joliet, located about six miles north west of the scene police discovered first.
Authorities said the first known victim among the eight was a man found shot dead on Sunday afternoon in Joliet Township. He was identified only as a 28-year-old man originally from Nigeria who has been living in the US for about three years, police said.
Authorities said they also believe Nance was connected to another shooting in Joliet that wounded a man on Sunday but would not discuss their evidence.
“I’ve been a policeman 29 years and this is probably the worst crime scene I’ve ever been associated with,” Mr Evans said during a news conference outside the Joliet homes on Monday evening.
Will County chief deputy Dan Jungles said during the Monday news conference that deputies had been staking out one of the houses since Sunday evening in case Nance, the suspect in the first fatal shooting they discovered, returned to them.
Nance’s last known address was one of the homes, police said.
When no one showed up, deputies finally went to the door of one of the houses. No one answered so they crossed the street to the other house, which they knew was linked to the first house and found the first bodies. Five bodies were found in one house and two bodies were found in the other.
Mr Jungles said he did not have any indication yet of how long the people in the houses had been dead. He said that autopsies were pending.
Mr Evans said the victims found on Monday in the houses were family members. Asked if the victims were members of the suspect’s family, Mr Jungles said he could not comment except to say that the suspect knew them.
A ninth person, a 42-year-old man, was left wounded but is expected to survive from yet another “random” shooting on Sunday that authorities said was linked to Nance’s vehicle but who was not otherwise connected to the other victims.
Additional reporting by agencies
