A family in southern Illinois was left shattered after seven of its members were shot — five fatally — in what authorities say was a targeted attack carried out by two teenagers from within the family itself.
According to Illinois State Police, 16-year-old Ja’Ymier Davis and a 15-year-old girl, whose identity has not been released due to her age, were taken into custody in connection with a string of shootings that unfolded across three separate locations in East St. Louis over the weekend.
Investigators say the first body was discovered at the Samuel Gompers Homes apartment complex — 49-year-old Cherie May, the teenage girl’s aunt. Officials believe she may have been killed several days before her body was found.
A short time later, police located four additional victims at a separate scene: 25-year-old Shania Thompson, 24-year-old Devin May, 21-year-old Quentin Thompson, and 74-year-old Patricia May, the family’s matriarch and the teen suspect’s grandmother. Two others were shot but are expected to survive. Every victim, officials confirmed, was related to the 15-year-old suspect.
A relative of the family, married to one of the surviving victims, said the two teens had been secretly dating despite strong opposition from the girl’s family. He said the couple appeared determined to remove anyone standing in the way of their relationship, and that the girl had reportedly run away with Davis on multiple prior occasions, only to be retrieved by relatives each time.
Investigators believe the girl took her mother’s keys to access a lockbox where a firearm was stored, then used the stolen weapon during the attacks. By the time family members intercepted the pair at a bus stop, three relatives had already allegedly been killed.
The final and most devastating shooting reportedly took place at Jones Park, where Davis and the girl are accused of opening fire on multiple family members simultaneously, including the girl’s mother and two of her siblings. The mother survived and was hospitalized with injuries.
A relative told authorities the teens had reportedly compiled a list of names on social media prior to the shootings, saying the family suspected something was coming but had no way of knowing when.
Court filings reviewed by officials allege that Patricia May, the grandmother, did not die solely from gunfire — prosecutors say Davis also mutilated her body after the shooting.
The girl’s father, whose mother was among the deceased, said he could offer his daughter no sympathy following the killings.
According to the St. Clair County State’s Attorney’s Office, prosecutors intend to charge the 15-year-old as an adult; she currently remains in juvenile detention. Davis has already been charged as an adult, facing five counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated battery, and single counts of aggravated vehicular hijacking, dismembering a human body, and unlawful possession of a stolen firearm.
He is being held without bond at the St. Clair County Jail following a court appearance Wednesday. A date for his next hearing has not yet been made public.