Photo courtesy mysuburbanlife.com
A mother and daughter were shot and seriously wounded as they sat in a car outside their Romeoville home this morning, spurring a warning to school children to stay home as police searched backyards with dogs, authorities said.
The warning and a soft lockdown at area schools were lifted hours later after police took four people into custody, according to Romeoville Police Chief Mark Turvey.
The 33-year-old mother and her 15-year-old daughter had gotten into a car in the 300 block of Emery Avenue around 7 a.m. when someone walked up and fired two and three shots into the car, police said. Both mother and daughter were struck in the head and were taken to Adventist Bolingbrook Hospital, but the girl was later airlifted to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, police said.
Turvey said both suffered “serious injuries.”
He would not say what the motive was, but he said it did not appear to have been a random robbery. “It appears these people were targeted,” he said. “It was obviously a terrible crime. A senseless crime.”
Police quickly established a perimeter around the neighborhood and set up a mobile command center. Deputy Police Chief Bill Denney said schools were placed on “soft lockdown” as a precaution, and children were told not to leave their homes for school. The Irene King Elementary School is about two blocks away.
Police used police dogs and tips to track down four people one to two hours after the incident. “They’re just persons of interest,” Turvey said.