Relationships between 7 Will County shooting victims, suspect revealed; police arrest girlfriend
Victims include alleged shooter Romeo Nance's mother, siblings | Suspect dies in Texas police confrontation
JOLIET, Ill. (WLS) -- Our coverage of this story has moved here.
Police have arrested the girlfriend of Will County shooting spree suspect Romeo Nance for allegedly preventing police from finding her boyfriend after they said he killed eight people in the Joliet area Sunday.
Kyleigh Cleveland-Singleton, 21, who is also the mother of Nance's 3-year-old son, has been charged with one count of obstructing justice.
Police said they first made contact with Cleveland-Singleton when they were looking for his son Monday in the aftermath of the shootings. During the investigation, detectives were told the child may be with his mother and grandmother at a home in Plainfield. Police went to that home where they found the child as well as Cleveland-Singleton.
While she voluntarily went with police for questioning about the shooting spree, detectives believe she made statements to prevent them from apprehending Nance and to obstruct the investigation.
Officials did not say when she was due in court.
Nance allegedly went on a deadly shooting spree in the Joliet area on Sunday, shooting nine people, eight fatally. Nance took his own life during a confrontation with Texas police Monday night, authorities said.
The shootings happened at four different locations on Sunday. Joliet police said two of the shootings, one on Davis Street and one on Pheasant Run Lane, "appear to be more random in nature" than the other two shootings, in which Nance targeted multiple relatives.
It has been three days since the attacks and yet, Will County is a community only just starting to wrap its head around the eight horrific murders that took place there.
With the victims now identified, a clearer picture is emerging as to the relationship between the alleged shooter and the victims, which included his mother, a bed-ridden older brother, three younger sisters, an uncle and an aunt who was a corrections officer at Joliet's Treatment Center.
- Tameka Nance, 47 years old, was the suspect's mother.
- Christine Esters, 38 years old, was the suspect's aunt.
- William Esters II, 35 years old, was the suspect's uncle.
- Joshua Nance, 31 years old, was the suspect's brother.
- Alexandria Nance, 20 years old, was the suspect's sister.
- Two teen girls, 16 and 14, were also sisters of the suspect.
This is completely shocking. I didn't see this comingAttorney Jordan Kielian
The names of the two teen girls have not been released by police.
ABC7 has also learned that Nance had a 3-year-old son. It is not known however whether the boy was in one of the two family homes at the time of the murders, only that the boy was later located at a different address. That is among the questions police are still trying to answer as they continue to call this a priority, active and ongoing investigation.
Attorney Jordan Kielian has represented not just Nance, but his now-deceased brother and uncle.
"This is completely shocking. I didn't see this coming. And even when I heard the news that there was some sort of incident on West Acres, I started contacting the family, because I knew the family lived there. I contacted Romeo, thinking he might be in danger," Kielian said. "It was a good family. From what I understood, a tight-knit family that supported each other, so it's just incredibly tragic."
With the two youngest victims still high schoolers and one a recent graduate, Joliet Township Superintendent Karla Guseman released a statement, reading, in part, "Words cannot adequately express the sadness that we are feeling right now. They just cannot. Our JTHS community is grieving this senseless loss, and our hearts are aching for Alonnah, Alexandria, their family, and all of our students and staff who are experiencing such a deep loss and sorrow."
The Illinois Department of Corrections also released a statement, saying, "We are deeply saddened by the death of Christine Esters, a cherished member of the Joliet Treatment Center and the Illinois Department of Corrections team since 2018. Her passing is an enormous loss to all of us. IDOC joins her loved ones in mourning and will remember and honor the joy, enthusiasm, commitment, and dedication she brought to her career and community. We offer our greatest sympathy to all those impacted by this tragedy."
On Wednesday, bullet holes mar the front door of the home where five of the eight murder victims were found. Flowers and and photos lie in tribute, dropped off by family friends still too shell-shocked to speak to anyone other than the violence prevention workers, who came out on Wednesday to offer their help to those in need.
"We help people who's been impacted by gun violence and things of that nature. We offer different services. We're going to be talking to the neighborhood and seeing if there is anything we can offer them towards healing," said Jaron Nabors with Peace Over Violence.
Members of Joliet Township's violence prevention program Peace Over Violence set up shop on that block, consoling those still trying to make sense of the senseless.
"It's all hands on deck. Even besides us. It's just community. It takes community to help each other out," Nabors said. "We're going to be walking the neighborhood, canvassing, talking to neighbors, hopefully, if they're willing to engage."
Suspect dies in Texas police confrontation
It's not clear why Nance allegedly went on the killing spree or why he traveled to Texas.
"We can't get inside his head. We just don't have any idea any clue as to why he did what he did," said Joliet Police Chief Bill Evans.
At about 8:30 p.m. Monday, U.S. Marshals located Nance southwest of San Antonio, in Natalia, Texas.
Police believe Nance stopped at a Texas mall and was able to get his hands on Texas license plates, which he put on his vehicle to try to throw authorities off of this trail.
The Medina County, Texas Sheriff's Office said Nance later had a confrontation with police at a gas station and died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Nance died nearly 1,200 miles from where the Will County murders took place, according to officials.
"At some point in there he took his own life," Medina County Sheriff Randy Brown said. "I can tell you that the suspect was neutralized, and there is no threat to the community."
Police said Nance had no known connection to that state.
Timeline of Will County shootings
At about 4:15 p.m. Sunday, Will County officials said a man was injured in a shooting in Joliet in the 200-block of Davis Street.
In that incident, a 42-year-old man was shot in the leg and suffered non-life threatening injuries. Surveillance video captured the moment shots were fired.
In the video, a man can be seen getting supplies from a car, when a red Toyota Camry pulls up. A few words are exchanged before the driver pulls away. But moments later, as the 42-year-old victim walks home, the driver of the Camry pulls around and opens fire. Gunshots can be heard, and the suspect speeds away.
Curtis Ellis is the 42-year-old victim's neighbor.
"My wife could've been out there taking groceries out of the car, just like this guy was taking water out of his car, and it doesn't seem like he even knew the guy," Ellis said.
About 10 minutes after the Davis Street shooting, Will County Deputy Sheriff Dan Jungles said his deputies were called to a home at 5 Pheasant Run Lane, where they found a person with a gunshot wound to the head.
That victim, identified as 28-year-old Toyosi Bakare, was taken to a local hospital, where he died from his injuries.
Jungles said he was originally from Nigeria and had been in Will County for the past three years. Police said they do not believe Bakare is related to any of the victims discovered at homes on Monday, but is somehow connected to Nance.
Police were able to identify the suspect and vehicle from the Davis Street shooting, but were not able to locate him. As a result, Jungles said his deputies set up surveillance near Nance's home in the 2200-block of West Acres Road at about midnight, but saw no sign of Nance.
This is the worst crime scene I've ever been associated withJoliet police chief
After about 12 hours of surveillance, the deputies approached the home listed as Nance's last known address, saw blood outside and made entry. Inside, he said, they found two people, a 47-year-old woman and a 35-year-old man, who had been fatally shot and contacted the Joliet Police Department.
Police said the second house, in which five people were found dead, was inhabited by some of Nance's relatives, so they checked that house as well and made their gruesome discovery: a 31-year-old man, two women, 38 and 20 years old, and two teen girls, 14 and 16 years old, who had all been shot to death.
Police believe the shootings at those two homes also happened on Sunday.
WATCH: Full police update on Joliet murders
"I've been a policeman for 29 years, and this is the worst crime scene I've ever been associated with," Joliet Chief Bill Evans said.
Nance is believed to have a criminal history; though, police did not offer any further details. Police said on Tuesday that in cases like this, they may never know the motive behind the crimes.
Joliet police asked anyone with information about the crimes to contact them.
On Wednesday, President Joe Biden released a statement on the killings, saying:
"Jill and I are praying for the family members of the eight victims killed in Joliet, Illinois, and for the broader community devastated by these tragic shootings.
"Federal law enforcement agencies assisted local law enforcement with the investigation.
"This tragedy underscores why I am doing everything in my power to keep guns off our streets and out of the hands of those who seek to harm themselves or others. It's why my administration is strengthening the gun background check system and cracking down on gun trafficking through the Bipartisan Safer Communities Act. It's why I've taken dozens of executive actions to strengthen gun safety and end the gun violence epidemic. And it's why I continue to call on Congress to pass universal background checks and a national red flag law, in addition to other commonsense gun safety measures.
"It is within our power to stop the epidemic of gun violence tearing our communities apart. Congress must act now."
