Two kids who cannot even drive yet are accused of wiping out five members of their own family in a “targeted” Sunday morning killing that stunned even veteran Illinois State Police.
Story Snapshot
- Five family members were shot dead and two more wounded across three locations in East St. Louis.
- Illinois State Police arrested two teenage suspects, ages 15 and 16, at a nearby state park.
- One suspect is related to at least one victim, and all seven victims were from the same extended family.
- Police say the attacks were “targeted,” not random, and see no ongoing threat to the public.
A family hit across three crime scenes
Illinois State Police say the horror played out across three different places, but against one family. Three victims were found shot at the Samuel Gompers Homes public housing complex. Another was discovered near a residence in the 800 block of 39th Street.
A fifth was killed at Jones Park, a public park where families normally gather on weekends. Two more relatives were shot at Jones Park and rushed to a St. Louis, Missouri hospital with serious injuries.
St. Clair County Coroner Calvin Dye Sr. identified the five people killed as 49-year-old Cherie May, 24-year-old Devin May, 74-year-old Patricia May, 21-year-old Quentin Thompson, and 25-year-old Shania Thompson.
Reports differ slightly on how some of the names are spelled, which usually signals early reporting confusion, not doubt that these are the victims. That age range, from 21 to 74, underscores that this was a cross-generation family attack, not a street shootout between rival gangs.
Two teenagers in custody and a thin line between child and killer
Police say two juveniles, ages 15 and 16, were arrested at Frank Holten State Park after officers stopped a vehicle linked to the shootings. Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly said one teen is suspected of having a direct role in the shootings, but charges were still pending as of his press conference.
Kelly also confirmed that one of the suspects is related to at least one of the victims, and other reports say all the victims were related to the teenagers.
When the accused are teenagers, the justice system shifts. Juveniles often face different rules, lighter maximum penalties, and more privacy protections than adults, even in a quintuple homicide. That tension hits a nerve for many Americans.
Five people are dead, two more are wounded, and yet the public may not even learn the suspects’ names because of juvenile protections. Many citizens see that as upside-down, where the rights of offenders outweigh the rights of victims and the community.
5 family members killed, 2 others gravely wounded in 'targeted' mass shooting – with teen relative in custody: cops https://t.co/m6g1SKeKd1 pic.twitter.com/3zYIMyG5yE
— New York Post (@nypost) July 13, 2026
Why police say this was “targeted,” not a random mass shooting
Illinois State Police are calling this a “targeted mass shooting” aimed at one family, not a random public rampage. Director Kelly stressed there is no known ongoing threat to the public, because evidence so far points to a specific family conflict, not a shooter hunting strangers.
A local city councilman argued this is “not a mass shooting” in the way most people use that term, saying it was more like a family execution than random terror.
That debate over labels is not just word games. Research on mass shootings shows that most high-fatality incidents in America actually grow out of domestic or family violence, not attacks on crowds of strangers.
Many officials resist the “mass shooting” label because it can brand a city as dangerous and scare away jobs, investment, and visitors. State agencies, on the other hand, often use the broader label to fit national tracking systems and highlight the scale of the bloodshed.
What we do not know yet, and what common sense suggests
Police say the motive is still under investigation. That gap invites rumors online, and there are plenty already swirling. Some blame drugs, others claim long-running family feuds, and still others jump straight to racial politics.
At this stage, none of those stories rest on public evidence. Facts released so far are simple: seven people from the same family were shot, five died, two are badly hurt, and police think one or both teen suspects are close relatives.
Family targeted in mass shooting that left 5 dead in East St. Louis, police say https://t.co/7eVlanBsH5
— Chicago Tribune (@chicagotribune) July 14, 2026
Common sense, backed by national data, points in one direction. When young men kill their own family members, it almost always traces back to domestic chaos: broken homes, long-tolerated threats, prior violence that no one stopped, and young people raised in neighborhoods where gunfire is normal background noise.
That does not excuse the shooters for one second. But it does raise a hard question: how many warning signs did adults, schools, and local officials miss before two teenagers allegedly picked up guns and destroyed their own bloodline?
Sources:
abc7chicago.com, bnd.com, youtube.com
