VIA THE DAILY BEAST:

Police in Joliet, Illinois warned locals to remain vigilant on Monday evening as night fell and officers continued hunting for an “armed and dangerous” man believed to have been involved with at least eight shooting deaths in the previous 48 hours.

That included seven people found dead with gunshot wounds in two homes on the same block in Joliet, police said at a press conference. They confirmed that the victims—five found in one home, and two in the other across the street—were members of the same family.

The suspect, Romeo Nance, 23, is believed to have “known” the seven victims, but further details on his relationship to the family were not immediately shared. Nance had been out on bond for another incident last year in which he shot “at a woman,” police said. He remained at large on Monday night, with police pulling “a full-court press” to find him, they added.

“I’ve been a policeman for 29 years,” Joliet police Chief Bill Evans said at the press conference. “This is probably the worst crime scene I’ve ever been associated with.”

Nance is believed to be driving a red Toyota Camry—the same vehicle that was spotted at the sites of two separate shooting incidents that took place on Sunday, one of them deadly.

The Will County Sheriff’s Office previously said the first incident resulted in a 28-year-old man being rushed to a local hospital with a gunshot wound to the head. The man, a Nigerian who’d been in the United States for around three years, was later pronounced dead.

The other incident, discovered second, had taken place approximately 10 minutes prior to the 28-year-old’s shooting, the sheriff’s office said. In that case, a 42-year-old man was discovered with a non-life-threatening gunshot wound to the leg.

VIA SHAW LOCAL NEWS NETWORK:

Nance was released on bond from the Will County jail on March 10, 2023, more than a month after he was charged in an unrelated shooting case.

Authorities have connected the West Acre Road killings to the deadly shooting of Toyosi Bakare, 28, a former resident of Nigera, on Sunday in Joliet Township, and the shooting of a 42-year-old man in the 200 block of Davis Street in Joliet. Both shootings took place about 10 minutes apart on Sunday. The Davis Street shooting was not fatal.

“I’ve been a policeman 29 years. This is probably the worst crime scene I’ve ever been associated with.”—  Bill Evans, Joliet police chief

The shooting of Bakare and the 42-year-old man appeared “random in nature,” according to Will County sheriff’s officials.

“Both those shooting investigations from [Sunday] have some correlation with the shootings here today that we’re dealing with [in the 2200 block of West Acres Road]. At this point, we can’t tell you exactly why we believe that,” Evans said.

The vehicle that police tied to the shootings is a red Toyota Camry with the license plate Q73 0412. The vehicle is registered to a Joliet address, according to information provided by the Illinois Secretary of State’s Office.

The Joliet Police Department is working with the Will County Sheriff’s Office and an FBI fugitive task force to find Nance, Evans said. If anyone makes contact with Nance, they should contact the police and not attempt to take custody of him themselves, he said.

“Our hearts go out to the victims’ families of this heinous crime. We will do everything in our power here at the Joliet Police Department to bring the person responsible for this to justice,” Evans said.

A shocked and frightened neighborhood

Neighbors of the West Acres Road homes had difficulty putting their feelings into words late Monday afternoon but said they were frightened and shocked and unsure what to do with the suspect on the loose.

Carr said despite the number of police in the neighborhood, she could not be sure the suspect was not nearby and what she would do if he was still not in custody into the night.

“Should I sleep on the couch?” she asked. “Should I sleep on the bed? I’m very mixed up. Or, should I sleep at all?”

Neighbor Amber Pajaeu said she, too, wanted to know if the suspect would be caught.

“I just moved out here a month ago,” Pajaeu said. “I’m kind of shocked about it because I didn’t know Joliet would be like this to be honest. I moved from one town to another town, and I’m kind of nervous and scared because there are children around here.”

Nance was arrested a year ago for a car chase in which police said he shot repeatedly at a woman in another vehicle trying to get away. His arrest was among many in a sweep called “Operation New Year’s Resolution” by Joliet police.

The incident occurred on Jan. 3, 2023, in which a woman driving south on Larkin Avenue was approached by a honking vehicle that police said was driven by Nance. Police said Nance threw a water bottle at the woman’s vehicle and pursued it onto Ingalls Avenue.

Nance, police said, fired multiple shots at the woman on Ingalls Avenue and followed her vehicle into a neighborhood where he continued shooting. The woman eventually got away uninjured.

Nance was awaiting trial on charges of aggravated discharge of a weapon, reckless discharge of a firearm, aggravated assault and other charges in connection with the incident.

His next court date was Feb. 1.