Update: Man charged with murder in Blue Line slayings, police say
A suspect is in custody after four people were killed in an early morning Labor Day shooting on a Blue Line train in Forest Park, marking the deadliest incident of gun violence on a CTA train in decades — possibly ever.
Police in the west suburban village said they responded at 5:27 a.m. Monday to a 911 call that multiple people were shot on a train at the Forest Park Blue Line station, 711 Desplaines Ave.
Three people were pronounced dead at the scene, police said, and a fourth shooting victim was pronounced dead soon after at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood. Their ages and identities were not immediately disclosed, but the Cook County medical examiner’s office confirmed the victims were three men and one woman.
Authorities said they were able to get a description of the alleged shooter after reviewing video surveillance. Chicago police later apprehended a suspect on the Pink Line. A weapon was recovered, according to Forest Park police.
Police said the shooting was an “isolated incident” and occurred while the train was moving. All of the victims were passengers, according to authorities.
No further details about the suspect were released as of late Monday.
Hours after the shooting, Forest Park Mayor Rory Hoskins called the violence “an outlier,” but added that the village’s first responders are frequently dispatched to the Blue Line station. Hoskins also called for more safety resources at the station as part of any potential reorganization of local mass transit agencies.
“To the extent that our leaders in Springfield are considering any kind of CTA-mass transit reorganization, we would ask them to consider investing additional resources in terms of safety, public safety, law enforcement personnel, what have you, to support a small community like Forest Park that has to respond to two major train lines ending in Forest Park,” Hoskins said.
In a prepared statement, CTA President Dorval R. Carter Jr. called the shooting the “definition of a heinous crime and tragedy” and said all current information points to it being an isolated incident.
“We extend our condolences to those who lost their loved ones as a result of this senseless act of crime — our thoughts and prayers are with them,” Carter said. “The safety and security of our riders and employees is and remains our No. 1 priority.”
In a separate statement Monday, a CTA spokesperson said the agency “immediately deployed resources to assist the Forest Park Police in their investigation into the matter, including review of all possible security camera footage, which proved to be vital in aiding local enforcement.”
The shooting was the first multivictim homicide to occur on a CTA train in at least 30 years, according to city violence data, and it was the first fatal shooting of the year on a CTA train or at a station. One other homicide occurred in January at the Roosevelt station in the South Loop, records show.
The mass shooting occurred less than a week after the CTA announced an AI-based program that seeks to more quickly notify police when guns are detected at CTA train stations.
Blue Line train service was suspended between the Forest Park and Austin stations as police investigated.
Local residents Cicely and Matt Gould said the shooting is not typical for their family-oriented town.
“It’s pretty shocking because (the community) is so safe,” said Cicely Gould, who on Monday afternoon hung out at a local park with her husband and two daughters, Harlem, 4, and Harper, 2, before heading to get ice cream.
“When I saw it online this morning, I read it out loud to (Matt). I mean, the shooting was literally right up the street from my house. But I wouldn’t say it’s a community thing. I feel very safe here. That’s where the end of the line is for the train, so it’s really busy.”
Standing in the parking lot of the Forest Park Blue Line station on Monday afternoon, Logan Square resident Sean McNulty said he had to take a shuttle bus for the last part of his commute because service still was suspended between Austin and Forest Park.
McNulty, who takes the Blue Line most mornings at 4 a.m. to get to his job at a Bensenville cabinet-making company, saidhe wasn’t surprised by the violence. Though his train typically is filled with other workers and folks catching an early morning flight at O’Hare, McNulty said he has seen gang and other criminal activity as a longtime commuter.
“It’s mass transit,” he said, while puffing a cigarette. “It’s going to be full of all sorts of weird people. You just kind of get used to it. I keep my eyes open because I want to know what’s going on around me at all times.”
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