Chicago man kills 3, wounds 4 in random shooting spree
Jason Nightengale had a 15-year record dotted with charges ranging from assault and domestic battery to drug possession and theft.
There are more questions than answers this morning after a Chicago man reportedly killed three different people and wounded four others in what is being characterized as random acts of violence.
Chicago Police Superintendent David Brown identified the shooting suspect as 32-year-old Jason Nightengale.
The man allegedly randomly opened fire on an array of people of all ages, including a 30-year-old student at the University of Chicago, who was shot in the head as he sat in a vehicle.
“It is with great sadness that we inform our community that a current student of the University was shot and killed this evening in a parking garage of the Regents Park apartment complex,” the university said in a statement.
Yiran Fan was a Chinese resident, a doctoral student studying economics.
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“This sudden and senseless loss of life causes us indescribable sorrow,” the university statement said.
The Chicago Tribune is reporting that Nightengale posted a series of videos to his Facebook page in which he flashed wads of money and a bottle of alcohol while speaking unintelligibly into his camera. According to the report, in one video, he is heard saying, “I’m going to blow up the whole community.”
Facebook disabled the man’s page after the videos were shared and garnered comments from dozens of viewers.
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Police say that in addition to shooting a 15-year-old girl, a 77-year-old woman and an 81-year-woman, Nightengale also fired at a police squad car.
The shooting spree lasted for hours before he was shot and killed by officers from the Evanston Police Department. The officers were wearing body cameras, and the investigation is ongoing.
The identities of the shooting victims are slowly being released.
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Another woman, 46-year-old Aisha Johnson, a mother of two, has been positively identified as one of the three fatal victims.
According to CBS 2 News, Nightengale had an arrest record that stretched back to 2005 dotted with charges ranging from aggravated assault and domestic battery to drug possession and theft.
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Evanston Mayor Stephen Hagerty released a statement Sunday, saying “Evanston Police officers shot and killed the gunman and brought the bloodshed to an end in a busy commercial area before anyone else could be hurt or killed.”
“While we are still learning more about the offender, his motive, and the totality of [Saturday’s] tragic events, one thing is clear: If not for the brave actions of Evanston and Chicago police, many more innocent lives would have been lost,” said Hagerty. “My heart goes out to the victims of this senseless violence and their families. No words can repair the lasting damage done by this individual.”
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