7 victims in Joliet fatal shootings were related to killer: Officials

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Joliet police provided further identifying information on seven of the eight victims killed in a series of shootings over the weekend, confirming that those individuals were related to the alleged killer.

According to authorities, the seven victims were related to 23-year-old Romeo Nance, who allegedly perpetrated a series of four shootings that left eight people dead and another injured.

Nance was then confronted by law enforcement in Texas, where he died by suicide on Monday night.

In an update published Wednesday, Joliet police revealed additional details about the victims killed in two homes in the 2200 block of West Acres Road on Sunday.

Among the victim’s was the suspect’s 47-year-old mother Tameka Nance. His 31-year-old brother Joshua Nance and 20-year-old sister Alexandria Nance, along with two juvenile sisters, aged 16 and 14, were also killed in the shooting.

Christine Esters, 38, and William Esters II, 35, were also killed in the shootings, and were the suspect’s aunt and uncle, according to police.

Nance is also believed to have killed 28-year-old Toyosi Bakare at the Pheasant Run apartment complex in unincorporated Joliet Township. It was that shooting, as well as another shooting in the 200 block of Davis Street on Sunday afternoon, that originally led police to identify a red Toyota Camry that they traced to a home in the 2200 block of West Acres Road.

After surveillance at the site failed to turn up the vehicle, police approached one of the homes, discovering blood and bullet holes in a doorway.

Inside the residence, Will County Sheriff’s Deputies discovered two victims who had died of gunshot wounds. A check by Joliet police of another nearby residence revealed five more victims, according to authorities.

It was believed that Romeo Nance fled Illinois after the shootings, and aerial surveillance in Texas ultimately spotted his vehicle near Natalia, a town approximately 30 miles from San Antonio. During a confrontation with U.S. Marshals at a gas station, Nance died by suicide on Monday night, according to authorities.

An investigation into the shootings remains underway, and a motive has not yet been established.

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