Insets (clockwise from top left): Patricia May, Cherie May, Devin May, Shania Thompson, and Quentin Thompson (GoFundMe). Background: News footage of one of the crime scenes in East St. Louis, Ill. (KSDK).
An Illinois family was decimated after seven relatives were shot, five of them fatally, allegedly at the hands of one of their own.
Illinois State Police arrested two teenagers, 16-year-old Ja'Ymier Davis and an unnamed 15-year-old girl, in connection with the homicides of five of the girl's family members. According to a press release, police found deceased victims at three different crime scenes throughout East St. Louis, Illinois, on Sunday. The first victim, 49-year-old Cherie May, was found at the Samuel Gompers Homes apartment complex. May was the female suspect's aunt.
Police later found four more deceased victims and identified them as 25‑year‑old Shania Thompson, 24‑year‑old Devin May, 21‑year‑old Quentin Thompson, and 74‑year‑old Patricia May. Two more victims were shot, but were expected to survive. All seven victims were relatives of the female suspect.
Lamarion Smiley, who is married to one of the survivors, Santosha Scott, told local NBC affiliate KSDK that the teenage suspects were in a romantic relationship that their family was against. In an interview, Smiley said, "It's all because y'all wanted to be together, so they wanted to eliminate everybody that had a problem with the situation."
According to Smiley, the girl "ran away" with the boy several times and her family would come and get her. KSDK reported that when the girl's family picked her and Davis up from a bus stop, they had already allegedly killed three family members after the girl stole her mother's firearm. Smiley said the gun had been secured in a lockbox, but the girl allegedly took her mother's keys.
The third and final shooting took place at Jones Park in East St. Louis, where Davis and the girl allegedly opened fire on Scott, Smiley, the girl's mother, Tiffany Thompson, and victims Quentin Thompson and Shania Thompson, who were the girl's siblings. Tiffany Thompson was also injured and hospitalized.
Smiley told KSDK that the couple had made a "list" on Instagram before the alleged killing spree. He told the station, "So, we were aware, we just didn't know when."
Court documents obtained by local CBS affiliate WBBM stated that Cherie May was likely killed days before she was found on Sunday. Prosecutors said Patricia May, the family matriarch and the female suspect's grandmother, was killed by Davis, who also cut off her thumb.
The female suspect's father, Marcus May, whose mother was Patricia May, told KSDK, "I can't show her no sympathy," referring to his teenage daughter.
The St. Clair County State's Attorney's Office said they planned to charge the 15-year-old girl as an adult. For now, she is in juvenile custody.
Davis has been charged as an adult with five counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated battery, and one count each of aggravated vehicular hijacking, dismembering a human body, and unlawful use of a stolen firearm. He is in custody at the St. Clair County Jail, where he is being held without bond after appearing in court on Wednesday. Authorities did not immediately disclose his next court appearance.