4 people killed on Chicago-area L train likely didn’t even see shooter, official says

Criminality

According to police, 30-year-old Rhanni S. Davis was later arrested on another Chicago Transit Authority L line.

By SOPHIA TAREEN, Associated Press

September 4, 2024 | 8:01 AM

FOREST PARK, Ill. (AP) — A man suspected of killing four people on a Chicago-area commuter train shot them at close range as they slept, officials said Tuesday.

The shooting happened before 5:30 a.m. Monday aboard a Chicago-area L system Blue Line train that was traveling near where the line ends in Forest Park, a suburb about 10 miles (16 kilometers) west of downtown Chicago. Rhanni S. Davis, 30, was later arrested on another Chicago Transit Authority L line, according to police. Authorities charged Davis with four counts of first-degree murder Tuesday.

Forest Park Mayor Rory Hoskins said the victims likely did not even see the shooter.

“They were shot execution-style while they slept,” Hoskins told The Associated Press.

Margaret Miller, 64, and three men, including Simeon Bihesi, 28, and Adrian Collins, 60, were fatally shot, according to the Cook County Coroner’s Office. All of their addresses were listed as unknown. Police said they were still working to notify relatives of the fourth person killed, so her name has not yet been released.

The initial investigation showed the victims were in two different cars as the Blue Line train headed toward Forest Park, police said. The Blue Line runs 24 hours a day and stretches from the neighborhood through downtown Chicago to O’Hare International Airport, running both underground and above ground.

The suspected shooter fled. But police found and arrested Davis using video footage from the train, Hoskins said.

Public records did not list a phone number for Davis. An email sent Tuesday to the address was not immediately returned. Forest Park police and the Cook County District Attorney’s Office did not immediately respond to messages about Davis’ legal representation. The Cook County Public Defender’s Office said it does not represent him.

Davis is scheduled to appear in court at noon Wednesday, according to Cook County District Attorney Kim Foxx, who spoke Tuesday night during a news conference in Forest Park. She called the shooting a “horrific, repulsive and inexplicable act of violence” and said more details would be released during the court hearing.

Investigators have not yet determined a motive, police said at a briefing.

CTA officials said they were assisting with the investigation and that surveillance footage “proved crucial.”

“While this matter remains under investigation, all current information indicates this was an isolated incident,” CTA President Dorval Carter Jr. said in a statement.

Forest Park police are used to calling busy transit stops, Hoskins said. The CTA Green Line also terminates in Forest Park and operates nearly 24 hours a day.

Over the years, nonprofit organizations have also used transportation hubs to reach homeless people and provide them with medical care and other services, especially in winter.

But the mass shooting in the community of 14,000 has raised new concerns. Hoskins, whose position as mayor is part-time, said he couldn’t recall a reported homicide in Forest Park in years.

His teenage son rides the L train to school, and on Tuesday morning, as he walked him to school, he watched him more closely than usual.

“People are concerned,” he said. “We want them to feel safe.”

AP writer Lisa Baumann in Bellingham, Washington, contributed to this report.