Police in Joliet were urgently searching for a suspect considered “armed and dangerous” after seven people were found dead from gunshot wounds on Monday afternoon, authorities said.
A man suspected of shooting and killing eight people in suburban Chicago died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after being located by U.S. Marshals in Texas, authorities confirmed.
Joliet police said at around 8:30 p.m., officers learned that 23-year-old Romeo Nance had been located by U.S. Marshals near Natalia, Texas, and when confronted by law enforcement, took his own life with a handgun. Natalia is approximately 30 miles southwest of San Antonio.
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The victims were found Sunday and Monday at three separate homes, authorities told reporters at a news conference earlier Monday evening.
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At around 12:04 p.m. on Monday, the Will County Sheriff's Office notified Joliet police of an incident in the 2200 block of West Acres, Police Chief Bill Evans said. Officers responded to the area, where they located seven people who had been shot to death in two residences.
Nance was also wanted for two separate shootings that occurred on Sunday, police said. In the first incident, a 42-year-old man was shot in the leg at around 4:17 p.m. in the 200 block of Davis Street.
About 10 minutes later, deputies with the Will County Sheriff's Office responded to a shooting at the Pheasant Run Apartment complex in unincorporated Joliet Township. Law enforcement encountered a man bleeding from his head with an apparent gunshot wound who later died from his injuries. The victim was identified as 28-year-old Toysi Bakare, who is originally from Nigeria and has resided in Will County for the past three years, authorities said.
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Police said both shootings appeared to be random, and the victims weren't connected to each other. The same vehicle wanted in connection with Monday's deadly shootings was present prior to both shootings on Sunday.
Following Sunday's shootings, at around midnight, sheriff's deputies set up surveillance operations in the area of West Acres Road, where Nance was last seen, said Dan Jungles, deputy chief with the Will County Sheriff's Office.
"We had surveillance on it all throughout the evening and throughout this morning, constant surveillance, hoping that the vehicle would return to that residence, which it did not," Jungles said. "That's when we made the decision to try and make contact with the registered owner of the vehicle."
At around noon, deputies investigating Sunday's shootings went to one of the residences, knocked on the door and didn't receive a response. They then approached a house across the street, where relatives of the first home's residents resided, and located blood outside. Deputies subsequently entered the home and found two people who had been shot and killed. They then called Joliet police as the residence was within city limits. Five people were found deceased at a second home across the street, according to authorities.
Evans said the seven people who were found dead were related. It's believed that they knew Nance, however a connection remained unknown. The victims' identities had yet to be released on Monday night.
The FBI Fugitive Task Force was called in to assist Joliet police and the Will County Sheriff's Office with the investigation.
