Crime concerns aren't new at Forest Park, Illinois train terminal where shooting victims were found
FOREST PARK, Ill. (CBS) -- The Forest Park CTA Blue Line terminal, where four people were found shot on a train early Monday in what turned out to be a quadruple homicide, has been an area of concern for law enforcement for some time.
Forest Park village leadership says problems at the terminal, at 711 Des Plaines Ave. in the western suburb, go back years—and have only gotten worse.
The Labor Day mass shooting on the Chicago Transit Authority train line is now renewing calls from Forest Park officials to get more resources into the village. They say the train station is a hotbed for criminal activity that is keeping both the police and fire departments busy all year round.
The Forest Park terminal is the final stop on the West Side/Eisenhower Expressway branch of the Blue Line—once known as the Congress Branch—which locals say is a major factor on why it attracts trouble.
Riders are forced to get off the trains, and then idle in the area.
According to Forest Park Mayor Rory Hoskins, village police and fire departments respond to the CTA station more than any other location in its jurisdiction.
Information provided by the Forest Park village administrator, but not independently verified by CBS News Chicago, puts the 911 call volume at roughly 4,300 a year—where a bulk of the service calls pertain to opioid overdoses and mental health emergencies.
Illinois state Rep. La Shawn Ford (D-Chicago), whose district represents Forest Park, says the Blue Line station has been on his radar as constituents have tirelessly alerted his office about the concerning activity for years.
"I hear people using drugs on the train. I hear people overdosing on the train that actually have died on the Blue Line as a result of a drug overdose—and you see drug deals going on," Ford said, "so there is a recipe for situations like this to happen."
Rep. Ford said he is working with Forest Park Mayor Hoskins to get much-needed resources to the village to address these safety concerns at the train station. He will first seek assistance through various state agencies, and then, if necessary, will reach out to Gov. JB Pritzker.
Rhanni Davis, 30, of Chicago, is charged with four counts of first-degree murder in the shooting on a Blue Line train Monday morning, according to Forest Park police.
All four victims were passengers on a Blue Line train as it was headed into the Forest Park terminal when they were shot shortly before 5:30 a.m.