Family calls for public's help finding triple-shooting suspect wanted in national manhunt
MATTESON, Ill. (CBS) – A young mother and her two children were shot in south suburban Matteson after trying to fight off an accused domestic abuser on May 18.
This week, Matteson police announced a nationwide manhunt for the suspected gunman, Lander D. Coleman, 43. The woman was still hospitalized this week after being shot seven times, police said. Her family is worried for their safety and believes that Coleman is a danger to the public.
Photos of the crime scene show blood and bullet holes throughout the woman's home, including on a school photo and on children's toys. A bullet casing was left behind.
"Just thinking about it, it gets me emotional just knowing that my son thought he was facing death at that moment," said Steven Booth. "It's really tough."
Booth described what his 12-year-old son experienced during the attack.
"Junior was in his room playing video games," Booth said. "He heard gunshots and his mother screaming."
The family allowed CBS 2 into the home to show the aftermath of the attack in hopes that someone would come forward to help police catch Coleman. A warrant for his arrest was issued after he was identified by police as the suspected gunman.
Booth said his son's mother "called out for him. He ran into the room, jumped on Mr. Coleman's back, tried to pull him off his mother." He said Coleman turned around and shot his son twice, once through his arm and another time through his leg.
Junior's mother was shot seven times. She had been sleeping with her two youngest children.
Coleman is their father.
They saw everything.
"How could you do that to a child?" Booth said. "You know, how could you do that to your children's mother?"
Junior ran into a bedroom to try to stop the bleeding and hide, but then he heard more gunshots. His 23-year-old sister, who had been sleeping on a couch, was shot and beaten, too, according to the family.
Later, a home surveillance camera recorded the suspect walking out of the front door with what appeared to be a gun in his right hand. That's when Booth received a call.
It was "probably the most unsettling and scariest call I've ever received," he said, adding there was about an hour-and-a-half when he didn't know if his child was alive. "Not knowing, that was the worst part of it."
"It felt like my heart stopped"
The attack took place at around 1 a.m., but how did the suspect get inside the house?
The previous evening, dozens of people had been at the home for a prom party, and the garage door had been left open.
"So we think he came from the garage into [the house] and then went to the basement," Booth said as he showed CBS 2 the inside of the home.
Booth added the family believes Coleman came in during the prom party, hid in a storage room, possibly for hours, until the party was over, and then made his way upstairs and started shooting.
"His three kids were here, so it does not make sense," said Ngozi Harris, the victim's cousin.
Harris was at the party and was stunned when she was told that three family members had been shot just hours after she left.
"It felt like my heart stopped," she said.
Now, Harris said she's worried about her family's safety. She said she believes Coleman is "a threat. That means everybody's at risk if he's still out there. So everybody should be working together to bring him to justice."
Matteson police are working with state and federal law enforcement to catch Coleman. All three victims are recovering from their gunshot wounds. The mother had an order of protection against Coleman dating back to March.
Anyone with information related to the case is asked to call the Matteson Police Department's Criminal Investigations Division at 708-503-3130.
If you or someone you know is experiencing domestic violence, you can call the Illinois Domestic Violence Hotline at 877-863-6338 or the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 800-799-7233.
The Network, an advocacy group for domestic violence victims, also put together a toolkit for how to create a safety plan.
The Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County's Office offers guidance on getting protection orders and has a help center.
