2 dead, 5 wounded in mass shooting at New Year's Day party in Kankakee, Illinois
KANKAKEE, Ill. (CBS) -- Two brothers were killed and five other people were wounded in a mass shooting at a New Year's Day house party early Wednesday in Kankakee.
Police said around 4:05 a.m., officers responded to reports of gunfire at 1845 Pierson Parkway, and when they arrived, they found several people running out of a New Year's party.
Four gunshot victims were found at the scene, and were taken to local hospitals. Police said three other gunshot victims took themselves to local hospitals.
Two men were later pronounced dead at the hospital – 22-year-old Quaysean T. Isom, of Kankakee, and 20-year-old Trevontae Ellis, of Pembroke Township, according to the Kankakee County Coroner's office.
Kankakee Police Chief Christopher Kidwell said one of the surviving victims was in critical condition. The other four people's injuries were not life-threatening. The victims range in age from 20 to 33.
The two men who died were brothers. Their uncle, who lives in Mississippi, said their mother traveled to Kankakee from Mississippi to identify her sons. He said she had five children and lost one son years ago to illness and now lost her other two sons to gun violence.
Police believe more than 30 rounds were fired inside the home, and multiple calibers of shell casings were recovered, suggesting more than one person fired shots.
Witnesses said there were at least 50 people in the small home at the time of the shooting.
Suspect was found hiding in the backyard
Several witnesses – who didn't want to be on camera – said they didn't hear any arguing, just gunfire from multiple shooters.
"Everybody looked like they was dancing, having a good time, and then gunshots just rang out. You heard three shots and then you heard like 10 more," one witness said.
One woman said she was holding one of the victims when he died.
"I sat there with some boy until he took his last breath, and it's over with," she said. "It was just people everywhere—people laying on the ground."
A neighbor, who also didn't want to be on camera, said he also heard the gunshots—but initially didn't know if it was a crime or people celebrating the new year.
"I did hear a bunch of gunshots, but at that time, a lot of bombs were going off here, you know, at midnight," he said.
Two firearms and multiple shell casings were found at the scene, and police said a 19-year-old suspect was found hiding in the backyard with a gun on him after the shooting. He was taken into custody for questioning, but no charges had been filed as of Wednesday afternoon.
Kidwell said police were at the home less than an hour before the shooting, in an effort to break it up, after complaints about shots fired in the area. That first report was deemed unfounded, and Kidwell said it might have been the result of someone firing shots in the air nearby, but did not come from inside the home.
In a statement on Facebook, Kankakee Mayor Chris Curtis said he was "heartbroken over this for our community and the families."
Curtis also said the shooting might have been avoidable, saying the party had been going on for several hours before the shooting, and "had been asked to cease due to loud noise and disturbing the neighborhood."
"What is more troubling is most of the attendees are not cooperating with police or saying they didn't see anything. We have to do better Kankakee!" Curtis wrote.
Kidwell said he's confident that, with so many people in the house at the time of the shooting, investigators will get cooperation.
"We had three homicides last year, and we did get cooperation from our community. So we have … I mean, I feel positive that we'll get something with that many people in the house, but sometimes it does take time. People don't want to come forward right away. I mean, obviously they're in fear of retribution, and stuff like that," he said.
People stopped by the home throughout the day on Wednesday to try to collect coats and phones they left behind in the chaos.
Kankakee Police were investigating, and asked anyone with information on the shooting to contact them at 815-933-3324 or 815-933-0426.
