EAST ST. LOUIS, IL (KTVI-FOX2now.com) -
UPDATE 9:30 a.m. Tuesday: The Major Case Squad said Tuesday there is no reason to believe the triple murder and Monday night's murder are connected. They are continuing to search for a suspect in Monday night's shooting. The shooter suspected in the triple murder is expected to be charged some time Tuesday. The Major Case Squad was called to investigate a homicide in East St. Louis Monday night, less than 48 hours after Saturday's triple murder case there. Monday's shooting happened just before 6:00 p.m., about three blocks from the triple murder scene. Another troubling connection between the cases: the victim in Monday's deadly shooting was the cousin of one of the three victims in the triple murder case and lived in the same housing complex as two of Saturday's victims.
Investigators initially suspected Monday's shooting could have been some sort of retribution for the arrest of a suspect in Saturday's slayings. That suspect was locked up at the East St. Louis police department at the time of Monday's shooting.
It didn't seem possible to those at the shooting scene Monday night: the same family, the same neighborhood, the same city, reeling from violence, again.
"It's too much, it's too much, it's too much," said Annette Flowers, the aunt of Monday's victim.
She said her niece was in her early 20's.
She was the cousin of Jamaica McDaniel, 24. McDaniel and her friends, Raykel Gathing and Tanikia Harvey, both 26, all of East St. Louis, were shot to death Saturday night, inside Harvey's car at a gas pump at the Crown Food Mart at Caseyville Avenue and Martin Luther King Drive.
All 3 women had children in the car with them ranging in age from 1 to 8. None of the children was shot. They were in the care of their relatives, Monday. McDaniel said Jamaica shielded her 1 and 2 year old sons from the gunfire as she was being murdered. The accused shooter is her former boyfriend and the boys' father.
Fox 2 news learned that 21 year old suspect, had a lengthy criminal record since 2005, including convictions for illegal possession of a stolen gun by a felon, along with cocaine possession. In the past year, there were misdemeanor offenses for trespassing at the home of Jamaica McDaniel's relative, resisting arrest when police tried to get him to leave; plus criminal damage to property when he crashed McDaniel's car, after taking it without her consent.
Seven months later, police said, he killed her and her two friends.
"She stopped dating him, because he was abusive," said Jaimaca's mother, Emogene McDaniel. "The same day [the murders] happened; my daughter called me and said ... 'everywhere we go we see [the suspect]'. She said, he's following me'."
As people gathered at that triple murder scene for a vigil to those victims Monday night, word came from the Gompers housing complex across the street that there had been another shooting and the victim was McDaniel's cousin.
"It's enough ! It's enough !" Flowers lamented.
Authorities had yet to release the victim's name in Monday's shooting. They also had not released the name of the triple murder suspect, pending the filing of formal charges.
Investigators initially suspected Monday's shooting could have been some sort of retribution for the arrest of a suspect in Saturday's slayings. That suspect was locked up at the East St. Louis police department at the time of Monday's shooting.
It didn't seem possible to those at the shooting scene Monday night: the same family, the same neighborhood, the same city, reeling from violence, again.
"It's too much, it's too much, it's too much," said Annette Flowers, the aunt of Monday's victim.
She said her niece was in her early 20's.
She was the cousin of Jamaica McDaniel, 24. McDaniel and her friends, Raykel Gathing and Tanikia Harvey, both 26, all of East St. Louis, were shot to death Saturday night, inside Harvey's car at a gas pump at the Crown Food Mart at Caseyville Avenue and Martin Luther King Drive.
All 3 women had children in the car with them ranging in age from 1 to 8. None of the children was shot. They were in the care of their relatives, Monday. McDaniel said Jamaica shielded her 1 and 2 year old sons from the gunfire as she was being murdered. The accused shooter is her former boyfriend and the boys' father.
Fox 2 news learned that 21 year old suspect, had a lengthy criminal record since 2005, including convictions for illegal possession of a stolen gun by a felon, along with cocaine possession. In the past year, there were misdemeanor offenses for trespassing at the home of Jamaica McDaniel's relative, resisting arrest when police tried to get him to leave; plus criminal damage to property when he crashed McDaniel's car, after taking it without her consent.
Seven months later, police said, he killed her and her two friends.
"She stopped dating him, because he was abusive," said Jaimaca's mother, Emogene McDaniel. "The same day [the murders] happened; my daughter called me and said ... 'everywhere we go we see [the suspect]'. She said, he's following me'."
As people gathered at that triple murder scene for a vigil to those victims Monday night, word came from the Gompers housing complex across the street that there had been another shooting and the victim was McDaniel's cousin.
"It's enough ! It's enough !" Flowers lamented.
Authorities had yet to release the victim's name in Monday's shooting. They also had not released the name of the triple murder suspect, pending the filing of formal charges.
