The detective long accused of killing eight people in the Chicago suburbs was linked to most of the victims in what the police chief said was “probably the worst crime” in nearly 30 years of investigation. .
Investigators believe Romeo Nance, 23, began shooting at two homes across the street in Joliet Saturday afternoon, but his body was not found until Monday morning.
Inside one of the bodies were the bodies of relatives Alexandria Nance, 20, Christine Esters, 38, and Joshua Nance, 31, as well as two unidentified girls, ages 14 and 16. Human remains were found.
The bodies of Tameka Nance, 47, and William Esters II, 35, were found across the street.
Nance is suspected of shooting a 42-year-old man in the leg and then fatally shooting the final victim, 28-year-old Toyosi Bakare. It was not immediately clear what happened.
Joliet Police Chief Bill Evans said the exact relationship is “still being sorted out.”
Officers are further confused about Nance's motive for the shooting, which he ultimately shot and killed after confronting law enforcement officials in Texas.
“You can't get inside his head,” Evans said.
“I have no clue why he did something like that,” said the nearly 30-year veteran, who called it “probably the worst crime I've ever been involved in.”
The second attack after Nance shot up a relative's home appeared to be “more random in nature” with no “link” to the first massacre, the chief said.
Surveillance camera footage showed him in a red Toyota Camry passing a 42-year-old man who was carrying groceries.
Nance was seen driving to the end of the block, making a U-turn and firing shots before speaking to the man.
“There were nine gunshots,” said neighbor Curtis Ellis. he told CBS News. “This is the entire clip of him trying to load this guy. He was lucky it didn't hit any vital organs.”
Officials said the 42-year-old man was hit in the leg but survived.
About 10 minutes later, Nance shot and killed Bakare, a Nigerian immigrant, at the final victim's apartment complex.
Bakare was found bleeding on the ground and taken to a local hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
Police said Bakare had just gone to a local gas station to buy cigarettes when he was shot.
Nance was eventually tracked to Texas by U.S. Marshals, where he shot himself Monday night.
Investigators believe he stopped at the mall and stole a car's license plate to evade law enforcement before he was eventually found, Evans said.
He noted that Nance has an extensive criminal history.
Records show that in early January 2023, Nance allegedly fired shots at a woman in a car. Obtained by Chicago Sun-Times.
No one was hit, but Nance was charged in an arrest warrant with assault and reckless firing, the newspaper said.
Authorities also charged the suspect with obstruction after he struggled with officers and attempted to flee while being taken into custody.
Later that month, Nance was also charged with criminal damage to government property for allegedly breaking the glass in his cell door, and in February he was charged with misdemeanor imprisonment, but the details of that case are unclear. .
He was released in March last year after his sister paid 10% of the bail.
“Mr. Nance's reign of terror in our community and Will County is over,” Sheriff's Deputy Dan Jungles announced Tuesday.
“It is time for our community to come together and heal.”
with post wire
