Chicago L train shooting suspect denied pretrial release

The suspect in the Labor Day shooting on Chicago’s L trains will remain in custody pending trial, a judge ruled Wednesday.

Rhanni S. Davis, 30, was charged with four counts of first-degree murder after he allegedly killed three passengers, moved to a second car and on Monday shot a fourth man who tried to defend himself.

The incident occurred just before 5:30 a.m. local time Monday, when police received a report that three people had been shot on a train at the Forest Park CTA (Chicago Transit Authority) Blue Line station. Forest Park police rushed to the scene and found four shooting victims. Three of them were pronounced dead at the scene, while the fourth died later at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, Illinois.

The suspected shooter, now identified as Davis, fled the scene, but Chicago police were able to track him down using a description from surveillance footage. Davis was later detained by police on a CTA Pink Line train in Chicago. A firearm was recovered, but it was not immediately clear if it was the same weapon used in the shooting.

But on Wednesday, during Davis’ first court appearance, additional details about the shooting emerged as Judge Elizabeth Ciaccia-Lezza, citing overwhelming evidence, found Davis to be a “real and present danger” to the public and ordered him held without bail.

Prosecutors said 64-year-old Margaret Miller was shot in the back of the head, and 60-year-old Adrian Collins was shot after he raised his hand in a desperate attempt to protect himself. Collins died shortly after being taken to a local hospital. Authorities have not yet released the name of the final victim, a 52-year-old man, because of difficulties in contacting his family.

According to Cook County prosecutors, although a motive has not been disclosed and Davis was wearing a mask during the fatal attack, Cook County Assistant District Attorney Eugene Wood released detailed evidence against Davis, including video footage and forensic testing that linked him to the crime.

Additionally, traces of gunpowder were detected in Davis’s hands and shell casings found at the scene were consistent with the weapon used.

Newsweek reached out to the Cook County Attorney’s Office via email for comment.

Monday’s shooting comes as nearly 3,000 people have been shot in Chicago in 2023, according to The Trace, a nonprofit gun news site. But that’s fewer than the previous year. Shootings in Chicago are down about 16 percent since 2022. As of Aug. 12, shootings in the Windy City were down 2 percent from the same time last year.

Additionally, the early morning shooting raised concerns about safety on the CTA’s Blue Line, which operates 24 hours a day and often serves as a shelter for homeless people. While it’s unclear whether the victims were homeless, authorities noted their addresses were unknown.

“While this was an isolated incident, this abhorrent and outrageous act of violence should never have occurred, much less on a public transit train,” the CTA said in a statement.

“We commend both the Forest Park Police Department for their thorough and collaborative efforts to provide information to partner agencies, and the Chicago Police Department whose quick actions led to the apprehension of the suspect in this case,” the CTA said in a statement.

Gun violence continues to plague the country, with 11,451 gun deaths and 22,011 gun injuries reported this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive, a nonprofit that tracks gun violence in the U.S. Of those incidents, 376 were mass shootings, which the Gun Violence Archive defines as an incident in which four or more people are shot or killed, not including the shooter.

Davis is due back in court on Sept. 27, where more details about the case are expected.