At least three people were killed and two others severely injured as a man went on a shooting rampage that started in Chicago and ended after almost four hours in Evanston, on Saturday. The suspect was later shot dead by the police. According to NBC Chicago, the first shooting took place at a pharmacy in Chicago on Saturday afternoon, around 2 pm, resulting in the death of a 30-year-old student. When officers arrived at the scene, the suspect managed to flee and shot dead another two persons, including a 20-year-old man, during his escape.
At a restaurant in Evanston, he took a woman hostage, who was later shot by the suspect and has since been hospitalised. A 15-year-old girl, who was shot in the head, was rushed to the hospital and is now in critical condition.
The local police have identified the suspect as 32-year-old Jason Nightengale, whose motives for the shooting spree remain unknown. According to Chicago Sun-Times, over the last week, the suspect had posted a series of videos online, in which he spoke about Satan, waved a gun and spoke about killing random people. The report also quoted a relative of the suspect as saying that he was fighting demons and that “he had some problems”. The relative also identified the suspect as “a wonderful father and a very determined young man who tried to do whatever he could do for his children.”
The Chicago Sun-Times also revealed that in one of the recordings posted online by Jason, he can be heard saying, “I’m going to blow up the whole community.”
The shooting spree is said to have begun when he shot to death a 30-year-old man in a parking garage. The victim was seated in his vehicle when he was attacked and killed. According to Chicago Maroon, the student newspaper of the University of Chicago, the victim, Yiran Fan, was a PhD student in a joint programme of the Booth School of Business and the Kenneth C Griffin Department of Economics.
The shooter then went into an apartment building, which was a block away, and began shooting. The building’s security guard, who was sitting at the front desk, died in the shooting. A 30-year-old student at the University of Chicago was among the victims.
The shooting ended when the police, on responding to reports of some disturbance in Evanston, confronted the suspect and shot him dead.