Police believe a shooting that left four people dead on a Chicago Transit Authority Blue Line train on Labor Day may have been a random attack.
Forest Park authorities told NBC Chicago the crime scene spanned two cars on a westbound train early Monday morning.
Police said they received a 911 call just before 5:30 a.m. of several people shot on a train at the Forest Park CTA Blue Line station.
Once there, officers emptied the station and found four people shot on the train. Three of them were pronounced dead at the scene, while a fourth was transported to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood and pronounced dead a short time later.
Police said the alleged gunman in the deadly shooting “was no longer on scene and made good on their escape” at the time they arrived, but they were able to use surveillance video to find a suspect in the case.
Chicago police later found a person matching the description of the suspect on a CTA Pink Line train, Forest Park police said. That person was taken into custody and a firearm was recovered, authorities said, though it was not immediately clear if it was the same weapon used in the killings.
“There’s no immediate threat. You know, this appears to be an isolated incident on this unfortunate day,” Forest Park Deputy Chief Chris Chin said during a press conference Monday.
Blue Line service was suspended for hours due to the police investigation, the CTA reported. Trains were running with “residual delays,” however, by 10 a.m.
“Although this was an isolated incident, this heinous and egregious act of violence should never have occurred, none the less on a public transit train,” the CTA said in a statement. “As soon as this matter was reported, CTA immediately deployed resources to assist the Forest Park Police in their investigation into the matter, including review of all possible security camera footage, which proved to be vital in aiding local enforcement. We commend both the Forest Park Police Department for their thorough and collaborative efforts to provide information to partner agencies; as well as the Chicago Police Department whose quick actions led to the apprehension of a suspect in this matter. CTA will continue to work with local law enforcement as part of this ongoing investigation.”
The case remained under investigation, police said. Details on the victims in the case were not immediately released.