“We can’t get inside his head. We just don’t have any clue as to why he did what he did,” Joliet Police Chief Bill Evans said.
JOLIET, Ill. Investigators have not yet determined a motive for the shooting deaths of eight people in Joliet after the suspected gunman was found dead by apparent suicide in Texas on Monday night.
“We can’t get inside his head. We just don’t have any clue as to why he did what he did,” Joliet Police Chief Bill Evans said Tuesday afternoon of the suspected shooter, 23-year-old Romeo Nance.
Evans said investigators believe began at two homes across the street from each other in the 2200 block of West Acres Road on Sunday, although the seven people who were killed there were not found until Monday morning.
“It’s had a tremendous impact on my agency, both mentally and physically,” said Evans.
Five people – two girls, ages 14 and 16; two women, ages 20 and 38; and a 38-year-old man – were found dead in one house at 2225 W. Acres Rd., and two people – a 35-year-old man and a 47-year-old woman – were found dead in the other at 2212 W. Acres Rd., Evans said.
Five of the victims were identified as Christine Esters, 38; Tameka Nance, 47; William Esters II, 35; Joshua Nance 31; and Alexandria Nance, 20, according to the Will County Coroner’s office. The teenage girls have not been identified. The discrepancy in the ages of some of the victims as per information from Joliet police versus the Will County Coroner’s office was not immediately clarified. “We may never know the truth”
Evans said Nance was related to most, if not all, of the people in the two homes, although their exact relationships with one another and Nance are not yet clear.
“We’re still sorting through that,” Evans said.
Investigators believe after the shootings on West Acres Road, Nance then shot a 42-year-old man in the leg Sunday afternoon in the 200 block of Davis Street in Joliet.
