Three men found shot to death in house in Kankakee
KANKAKEE, Ill. (CBS) -- Three bodies were found in a house in Kankakee Wednesday, and police say they are conducting a homicide investigation.
As CBS 2's Charlie De Mar reported, police said it all started when a relative couldn't get in contact with a loved one and made the gruesome discovery Wednesday afternoon. But investigators believe the victims were all shot dead sometime overnight.
At 2 p.m., police were called to a rental house at 662 W. Merchant St. The house is right across the street from AMITA Health St. Mary Kankakee Hospital between 6th Street and the Kankakee River, and also just west of the downtown business district.
A family member of the tenant of the upstairs apartment at the house reported they had conducted a welfare check on their relative – and found three men dead of gunshot wounds.
Two of the men were identified as Kyle Washington, 25, and Deontay Taylor, 24. Police have not released the identity of the third man, who was 27.
Police say the victims were friends.
Jaheim Lane identified himself as a cousin of one of the victims.
"I'm sad. I'm hurt," Lane said. "He didn't deserve this."
Police were called around 2 p.m. Wednesday by a relative of one of the victims, who found the bodies during a wellbeing check.
"We do believe the incident occurred in the overnight hours," said Kankakee Mayor Chris Curtis.
Illinois State Police were called to work the crime scene. It took some time for detectives to arrive.
The length of the investigation, and emotion of the day, agitated friends and family outside.
"Police walking around – you know, he's been in the house for like three, four hours, you know?" said a friend of one of the victims named Margarita. "They ain't really doing nothing."
"The reason it took so long to process the scene is we did bring in the Illinois State Police to process the scene for us," said Kankakee Mayor Chris Curtis. "Our officers are very good - but (state police are) excellent – and so we wanted to make sure we had very a clean crime scene."
The Kankakee chief of police said the incident was isolated and said there was no threat to the public.