Police say suspect who killed 8 people in suburban Chicago shot himself in Texas

CHICAGO (AP) — A man suspected of shooting and killing eight people in suburban Chicago has shot himself after a confrontation with Texas law enforcement officers, police said late Monday.

Police in Joliet said on Facebook that at about 8:30 p.m. Central time, 23-year-old Romeo Nance was found by U.S. Marshals near Natalia, Texas, and that after a confrontation, Nance shot himself.

Nance is suspected of shooting and killing eight people at three locations in the Chicago suburbs, prompting a neighborhood search Monday as police said he was still at large.

Police in Will County and the city of Joliet in Illinois previously said they did not know a motive for the killings, but said Nance was known to the victims. Joliet Police Chief William Evans said the FBI’s Fugitive Task Force was assisting local police in the search for the suspect.

The victims were found at three separate residences on Sunday and Monday, authorities told reporters earlier Monday evening, several hours after warning on social media that Nance should be considered “armed and dangerous.”

One of those killed was found Sunday in a home in Will County. Seven others were found Monday in two homes on the same block in Joliet, about 6 miles (9.6 kilometers) northwest of the scene first discovered by police.

Authorities said they also believe another shooting in Joliet on Sunday, which left one person injured, is connected to the violence, but they would not discuss their evidence.

“I’ve been a cop for 29 years and this is probably the worst crime scene I’ve ever been involved with,” Evans said during a news conference outside Joliet homes Monday evening.

Will County Chief Deputy Dan Jungles said during a news conference before Nance’s killing that deputies had been canvassing a house since Sunday evening in hopes of bringing Nance, the suspect in the first fatal shooting, back to them. Nance’s last known address was one of the homes, police said.

When no one showed up, deputies eventually went to the door of a home. No one answered, so they crossed the street to another house, which they knew was connected to the first house, and there they found the first bodies. Five bodies were found in one house and two bodies were found in the other house.

Jungles said he has yet to find any indication of how long ago the people in the homes died. He said that the autopsy is pending.

Evans said the victims found in the homes Monday were family members. When asked if the victims were family members of the suspect, Jungles said he could not comment other than to say that the suspect was known to them.

Teresa Smart lives about a block away from where the seven victims were found and said she’s worried she and her family won’t be able to sleep Monday night.

“This hits too close to home,” she said, adding that police cars were blocking roads throughout the neighborhood.

“I keep looking out the window and double-checking my doors,” she said. “It’s very scary.”

Joliet police said in a Facebook post earlier Monday afternoon that they were investigating “several” people found dead and shared a photo of Nance and images of a vehicle, Officers identified the vehicle as a red Toyota Camry.

Earlier on Monday, the Will County Sheriff’s Office shared photos of the same car via Facebook and said it was seen at the scenes of two separate shootings Sunday afternoon.

___ This story has been corrected to show that Joliet is a city, not a county. ___ Richmond reported from Madison, Wisconsin. Associated Press reporters Claire Savage and Lisa Baumann in Bellingham, Washington, contributed.