Targeted East St. Louis shooting kills five family members

Two teenagers, ages 15 and 16, were in custody after five members of one East St. Louis family were killed and two others were wounded in what Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly described as a targeted mass shooting. Authorities said the violence unfolded across three locations, Jones Park, a residence near 39th and Summit, and the Samuel Gompers Homes.

The victims were identified as Cherie L. May, 49; Devin D. May, 24; Patricia A. May, 74; Quentin L. Thompson, 21; and Shania W. Thompson, 25. Police said at least one of the suspects was related to at least one of the victims, a detail that deepened the sense of betrayal around a case already marked by its family focus and by the number of scenes investigators had to piece together.

Kelly said the suspects were taken into custody at Holten State Park. Authorities were seeking charges through the St. Clair County state's attorney's office, and they said there was no threat to the public. The exact time of the shooting was not clear, though officials said most of the shootings took place on Sunday.

The spread of the attacks across a park, a home and a public housing complex made the investigation especially grim for East St. Louis, where violent episodes often leave neighborhoods absorbing the damage long after the crime scene tape comes down. CBS Chicago said police were investigating remains at a public housing complex, a park and a home, underscoring how widely the violence reached through the city.

Kelly said five homicides are extremely rare in East St. Louis, but he also noted that similar cases have occurred over past decades. That history gives the killings a second, quieter weight in a city that has lived with repeated gun violence: the immediate loss of five family members, and the larger strain of a community forced again to absorb grief, fear and the work of rebuilding trust around it.