‘No Idea’ Why Joliet Woman Gunned Down on Porch: Aunt

JOLIET, IL — The aunt of a woman gunned down as she sat on the porch of a South Joliet Street home Friday night says the shocking death remains a mystery.

“No idea,” Sylvia Hanko said of why her niece Sequita Walsh was killed.

Walsh, 34, was shot in the lower back as she and others tried to flee into the house, police said. Walsh was taken to Presence St. Joseph Medical Center where she was pronounced deceased about an hour later.

The gunman reportedly walked around the corner from Jasper Street, approached the group on the porch and started shooting. Walsh was the only one hit, police said.

Hanko said funeral arrangements were still pending Sunday morning.

Hanko’s not the only one in the dark about Walsh’s death. Detectives are also still unclear about the motive for the gun attack.

Detectives were looking into whether an earlier altercation between some of the people on the porch and another, unidentified group, may have precipitated the shooting, said Police Chief Brian Benton, but that was “still just a theory.”

Benton asked anyone with information on the attack to call detectives at 815-724-3020.