The suspect charged in the quadruple homicide on a CTA Blue Line train earlier this week made their initial court appearance in Maywood on Wednesday, where a Cook County judge ordered they be detained pending trial.
Rhanni Davis, 30, faces four counts of first-degree murder in the fatal shootings of four people who were sleeping on a Blue Line train early Monday as it passed through the near west suburbs.
“The facts alleged by the state are absolutely horrific and appalling,” Judge Elizabeth Ciaccia-Lezza said in making her order. “This defendant defines — defines — violent.”
Davis, wearing an olive jail jumpsuit, stood flanked by a half dozen Cook County sheriff’s deputies during the brief hearing in the basement of the Maywood courthouse. The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Sept. 27.
Assistant State’s Attorney Eugene Wood said Davis was captured on CTA surveillance video boarding a Red Line train at 3:50 a.m. on Sept. 1. About 40 minutes later Davis transferred to the Blue Line, boarding a train bound for Forest Park.
At 5:30 a.m., after the train exited city limits, CTA surveillance footage showed Davis wearing the same clothing but also wearing a mask. Wood said Davis was seen walking up to three of the victims as they slept before fatally shooting them. Davis then went to another train car where he fatally shot the fourth victim.
After the shooting, Wood said, Davis boarded a Loop-bound Blue Line train and later transferred to the CTA Pink Line. CPD officers, alerted to the shooting, took Davis into custody at the California Pink Line station around 7 a.m. Monday.
Five spent 9 mm bullet casings were found on the Blue Line after the shooting, Wood said.
Those bullets matched the gun Davis had when they were taken into custody and Davis’ hand tested positive for gunshot residue, authorities said.
Davis’ attorney, Assistant Public Defender Robert Fox, said Davis graduated from Chicago Vocational Career Academy and in recent years has worked in home health care and also as a security guard.
At a Tuesday night press conference to announce the charges against Davis, Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx called the shootings a “horrific, heinous, inexplicable act of violence.”
Foxx did not, however, offer evidence of a motive in the case.
“There is an absolute urgent need to address safety in our communities,” she said. “Public transportation should be a safe space for everyone.”
A review of Cook County court records showed Davis has faced financial hardship and housing instability while keeping steady contact with local police, including at least two arrests for illegal gun possession.
Records show Davis was charged with disorderly conduct after a round of looting and rioting in the downtown area in August 2020. Davis eventually pleaded guilty and was sentenced to one day in jail.
Court records show Davis was arrested at a Metra train station parking lot in south suburban Blue Island in 2019 and charged with illegally possession of a firearm and having an open container. Davis was arrested again in 2021, and charged with unlawful possession of a weapon — allegedly a Taurus pistol and a magazine of ammunition — following a car crash on the Southwest Side.
Records show Davis filed for bankruptcy in 2018 and, four years later, faced an eviction lawsuit. Several addresses on the South Side and south suburbs, as well as one in Nashville, are listed in Davis’ various arrest reports.
Originally Published: