‘Reign of terror’: Joliet police say mass shooting suspect killed eight people, including two teenage girls and multiple relatives
Joliet police described a “reign of terror” in the southwest suburban community this weekend, when they believe one man killed eight people, including two teenage girls and multiple relatives.
Romeo Nance, the 23-year-old man wanted in the fatal shootings of eight people and wounding of another man in the Joliet area, died from a self-inflicted gunshot Monday night after being pursued by U.S. Marshals in Texas. While some of the details of the case remain unclear, including his motive, police believe Nance shot and killed seven relatives before killing another man at “random.” He is believed to have shot and injured one other man in the shooting spree.
Will County Coroner Laurie Summers identified five of the victims found in the homes as Christine Esters, 38, Tameka Nance, 47, William Esters II, 35, and Joshua Nance, 31, all of Joliet, and Alexandria Nance, 20. The teenage girls, ages 16 and 14, were not identified as of Tuesday afternoon.
Summers said all the victims’ deaths appeared to be homicides and the final cause and manner of death were pending autopsy results. Prosecutors charged Nance with murder Tuesday, but closed the case due to his death, court records show.
The deadly saga began when Nance killed five individuals in one residence and two in another home in the 2200 block of West Acres Road Sunday afternoon, Deputy Chief Dan Jungles of the Will County sheriff’s office said. Sheriff’s deputies found them on Monday, he said. The victims appeared to have died from gunshot wounds.
Joliet police Chief Bill Evans said they believe Nance was related to the seven victims, although he could not say how they were related.
‘Random’ shootings
Police believe that after Nance killed his relatives, he shot two other men at random Sunday, killing one.
The Will County sheriff’s office received a 911 call on Sunday in the early evening that a man was on the ground bleeding from the head at the Pheasant Run Apartments in unincorporated Joliet Township. The man, who later died, was identified as Toyosi Bakare, a 28-year-old originally from Nigeria. Police believe Nance used a 9 mm handgun.
The sheriff’s office said detectives had learned Bakare had left his residence to go buy cigarettes when he was gunned down by the suspect. While deputies were securing the crime scene, they learned that another shooting had occurred earlier on the 200 block of Davis Street, the sheriff’s office said.
In that instance, a 42-year-old man was shot in the leg and sustained non-life-threatening injuries, police learned.
The man’s neighbor, Curtis Ellis, said he was watching the Detroit Lions play the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in a playoff game Sunday when he heard nine gunshots at around 4:15 p.m. Ellis, who lives on Davis Street about 4 miles away from West Acres Road, said he called 911 for help.
“When I look outside, I see my neighbor hopping toward his house,” the 56-year-old said. “It takes your breath away because you’re worried about this guy.”
Ellis said his neighbor told him he was walking from his car toward his house carrying jugs of water when he was shot. Ellis said the man is now home recovering and needs crutches as his leg heals.
Ellis, who has lived in his home for 37 years, said while there are occasional shootings near his home, none have been random like Sunday’s shooting. That thought, he said, is what scares him most.
“He could’ve ran in my direction and it could’ve been something else,” Ellis said. “My wife could’ve been outside getting groceries out the car and he could’ve shot her too.”
Police reviewed surveillance of the shooting from a camera at Ellis’ house and saw that the suspect was driving a red Toyota Camry, he said. That car led officials to Nance, Ellis said.
“If it weren’t for my surveillance video, those bodies could’ve been in the house for who knows how long,” Ellis said. “They weren’t just looking for a red car, they knew which red car.”
By 8 p.m. Sunday, Jungles said, detectives connected the Camry to Nance, who he said has an “extensive criminal history.” He said they waited outside the 2200 block of West Acres Road for him to arrive. When they couldn’t find the vehicle, he said they concluded Nance had already fled the Will County area and was “no longer a danger to the public.”
When detectives went to one of the residences Nance was known to occupy Monday afternoon, they noticed blood and gunshots at the front door, Jungles said. They entered the home, finding two dead people. He said they then contacted the Joliet Police Department, and went to the other residence across the street, which they knew to be occupied by relatives of the family, and they found five dead people.
During the investigation, Evans said a 3-year-old boy was also unaccounted for. He said they found him staying with a relative in a nearby community.
Nance dies from ‘self-inflicted’ gunshot wound
After police found the seven victims on West Acres Road, Jungles said law enforcement, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Marshals Service, collaborated to locate Nance.
The search ended after Nance shot and killed himself with a handgun at about 8:30 p.m. Monday, following a confrontation with law enforcement at a gas station in Natalia, a town about 30 miles southwest of San Antonio. Jungles said Nance took his life after fleeing his vehicle with a gun.
About 30 minutes earlier, a helicopter spotted Nance traveling on Interstate 35, Jungles said. At some point, he stopped at a mall in the state and stole Texas license plates. It remains unclear why he traveled to Texas, according to Joliet police Sgt. Dwayne English.
The Medina County sheriff’s office declined to comment on the case, saying the Texas Department of Public Safety is handling the investigation. The Texas Department of Public Safety declined to release any specifics, saying they want to “protect the integrity” of the investigation.
Nance’s criminal background
In January 2023, prosecutors charged Nance with aggravated discharge of a firearm, aggravated assault, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and reckless discharge of a firearm after a road rage incident in which he shot a woman multiple times in Joliet, according to Will County court records.
Nance had three other open cases in Will County, charging him with criminal damage to government property, obstruction of a peace officer and battery. Nance was also cited for traffic violations in Will County 10 times between late 2019 and early 2023, court records show.
Attorney Jordan Kielian was representing Nance in four pending cases in Will County and said he was very surprised to see reports of his death.
“I was familiar with Romeo’s family,” he said. “It is a very tragic situation, awful all the way around.”
Kielian said he did not know of the circumstances that led up to the shootings.
Joliet residents ‘freaked out’
In Joliet, residents of the typically quiet and safe neighborhood where the victims had been found said they’d been gripped with fear before the suspect died.
Carpenter Ruben Dunaven shoveled snow Tuesday morning in his driveway. He hadn’t heard about the shooting until a friend texted him Monday night that the area near his house was closed off.
“It’s surprising,” Dunaven said. “This is supposed to be the nicer part of Joliet,”
Jennifer Burns, 40, another neighbor in the area, first heard about the shooting on social media. She rushed back from work to pick up her daughter when after-school activities were canceled.
“I was freaked out about the fact that it was just down the street,” Burns said as she held her son in her arms. “I was afraid to come home.”
She moved to Joliet from Chicago in 2022, and had always seen the area as safe. But she didn’t feel that way as police cars swarmed her street.
“It was alarming, for sure,” Burns said. “Me and my husband were scared for my kids.”
