IL: Four killed in shooting on CTA Blue Line in Forest Park

CHICAGO — Four people were killed in a shooting Monday morning on a CTA Blue Line train in Forest Park, police in the west suburban village said.

Forest Park police said in a statement that officers were dispatched to the Forest Park Blue Line subway station at 711 Des Plaines Ave. at 5:27 a.m. Monday after someone called 911 to report that three people had been shot on a train.

Three people were pronounced dead at the scene, police said, and a fourth shooting victim was pronounced dead a short time later at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood. The ages and identities of the victims were not released, but a Cook County medical examiner’s office official confirmed four deaths.

Forest Park police said the suspect was later stopped on the Pink Line by Chicago police officers and was found in possession of a gun.

Cicely and Matt Gould said the shooting was unusual for their hometown and not reflective of local crime.

“It’s shocking because (the community) is so safe,” said Cicely Gould, who spent time at a local park Monday afternoon with her husband and two daughters, Harlem, 4, and Harper, 2, before heading out for ice cream.

“When I saw it online this morning, I read it out loud (to Matt). I mean, the shooting was literally right down the street from me. But I wouldn’t say it’s a community thing. I feel very safe here. It’s right where the train line ends, so it’s really busy.”

Standing in the parking lot of the Blue Line station in Forest Park Monday afternoon, Logan Square resident Sean McNulty said he had to take a shuttle bus for the final part of his journey because service between Austin and Forest Park was still interrupted. McNulty said he takes the Blue Line most mornings at 4 a.m. to get to work at a carpentry business in Bensenville.

Unaware of the morning shooting, McNulty said he wasn’t surprised by the violence. Although his train is usually packed with other workers and people catching morning flights to O’Hare, McNulty said he’s seen gangs and other crime as a longtime passenger.

“It’s mass transit,” he said, taking a drag on his cigarette. “There’ll be all kinds of weird people. You just get used to it. I keep my eyes open because I want to know what’s going on around me at all times.”

In the hours after the shooting, Forest Park Mayor Rory Hoskins called the shooting an “exception,” but added that village first responders are often dispatched to the Blue Line station. Hoskins also called for increased security resources at the station as part of a potential reorganization of local mass transit agencies.

“To the extent that our leaders in Springfield are considering any kind of reorganization of CTA mass transit, we would ask them to consider investing additional resources in terms of security, public safety, law enforcement officers, etc., to support a small community like Forest Park that has to respond to two major rail lines terminating in Forest Park,” Hoskins said.

In an emailed statement Monday, a CTA spokesperson said, “This abhorrent and egregious act of violence should never have occurred, much less on a public transit train.”

“Immediately after this matter was reported, CTA immediately dispatched resources to assist the Forest Park Police Department in their investigation, including reviewing all available security camera footage, which proved critical in supporting local law enforcement,” the agency said in a statement.

The shooting was the first multiple-victim homicide on a CTA train in at least 30 years, according to city violence data, and the first fatal shooting this year on a CTA train or at a station. Another homicide occurred in January at the Roosevelt Station in the South Loop, records show.

The mass shooting comes less than a week after the CTA announced an artificial intelligence program that aims to notify police more quickly when weapons are detected at CTA train stations.

Police continue to investigate, and train service on the Blue Line between Forest Park and Austin stations has been suspended.

©2024 Chicago Tribune. Visit chicagotribune.com Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.