No Motive Yet In 'Horrific' Blue Line Mass Shooting: Authorities

FOREST PARK, IL — A 30-year-old Chicago man is charged in the fatal shooting of four people who were sleeping early Monday on a CTA Blue Line train, Forest Park police said Tuesday, although they could not yet provide a motive for the killings.

Authorities announced Tuesday afternoon that Rhanni S. Davis was charged with four counts of first-degree murder. He is set to appear in court noon Wednesday in Maywood.

The shooting was reported just before 5:30 a.m. Monday on a westbound train at the station in the 700 block of Desplaines Avenue, police said, noting three people died at the scene and a fourth was later pronounced at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood.

Surveillance video showed the victims were sleeping in various areas of the train when the shooter walked up to each person and unloaded his weapon, according to police, who said the attacker did not interact with any of the victims immediately prior to the shooting. Davis fired six rounds, five in one train car and one in another, according to police.

"We want answers,” Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx said Tuesday evening at a press conference streamed on Facebook by WLS. “I fear, however, the question of why may never be answered because sometimes truly horrific, heinous, evil acts have no answer.”

The victims did not appear to know one another, police said. They included 60-year-old Adrian Collins and 28-year-old Simeon Bihesi, according to the Cook County Medical Examiner's Office; 64-year-old Margaret Miller, per NBC 5; and a 52-year-old man who had yet to be identified as of Tuesday evening.

Police do not know if the victims were unhoused. The CTA through partnerships provides resources to support those in need of housing, according to the transity authority's president, Dorval Carter.

“This was a very random isolated incident,” Carter said at the press conference. “I can tell you in my career at CTA I can’t recall any sort of mass killing like this ever occurring.”

Authorities were able to get a description of the shooter from video surveillance, and Chicago police found a person matching the description Monday at the Pink Line California station. The person was arrested and police recovered a Glock 43, 9 millimeter pistol, officials said.

Lt. Detective Daniel Pater said Forest Park police had not had any prior contact with Davis. NBC 5 reported Davis had previously been charged in Cook County under multiple names with crimes including battery and weapons offenses, adding that the past weapons charges were dropped.