Two teens arrested in targeted East St. Louis family shooting spree

Two teenagers were taken into custody after a shooting spree across East St. Louis left five members of the same family dead and two others wounded, Illinois State Police said. Officers stopped the vehicle the suspects were riding in with a Precision Immobilization Technique maneuver, ending a miles-long sequence of shootings that unfolded across three locations, including Frank Holten State Park.

State police said at least seven members of the target family were shot at multiple sites in the East St. Louis area on Sunday, July 12, 2026. Five died and two others were injured. The victims who died were 74, 49, 25, 24 and 21 years old, underscoring how the violence reached across generations of one family in a city of about 17,500 residents just across the Mississippi River from St. Louis, Missouri.

Brendan Kelly, the Illinois State Police director, described the case as a targeted mass shooting against one family. Investigators said one of the suspects was related to one of the people killed, and officials said the other shooter also had a family connection. Authorities have not said what led to the attack, and the motive remained under investigation as the Illinois State Police Division of Criminal Investigation continued to work the case.

Police and prosecutors did not immediately release the suspects’ names because both were juveniles, identified only as a 15-year-old and a 16-year-old. James Gomric, the St. Clair County State’s Attorney, said juvenile confidentiality rules limited what his office could say publicly as charges were being prepared.

State police said there was no known threat to the public after the arrests. The immediate danger appeared to end with the stop near the park, but the toll on East St. Louis was already fixed: five dead, two wounded, and a family shattered across several locations in one afternoon of violence.