Victim's Family Wants To Know Why It Took Hours To Catch Up To Jason Nightengale Amid Weekend Shooting Spree
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The list of questions was growing Monday about the weekend shooting spree that spanned the city, and left three people dead and four others hurt, before Jason Nightengale was shot and killed by Evanston police.
As CBS 2 Investigator Megan Hickey reported, the victims were apparently shot at random on Saturday – from the Indian Village district in East Hyde Park-Kenwood, to South Halsted Street in the Brainerd and Fernwood communities, and finally to the line between the West Rogers Park neighborhood and Evanston many miles away.
Some victims' families on Monday were asking why it took more than three and a half hours to subdue Nightengale. The first shooting happened shortly before 2 p.m. on Saturday, and Nightengale was not taken out by Evanston police until close to 6 p.m.
Police said the seemingly random nature of the crimes kept them one step behind.
Nightengale, 32, had no apparent motive. But he hinted to his plans Saturday and his now-disabled social media accounts. He documented his own reckless driving on video and said he was going to be on TV.
"I'm reporting live - this is going all on the news," Nightengale said in one of the videos he reported before the shooting rampage."
The shooting spree began just beyond the doors of the parking garage at the Regents Park building, 5035 S. East End Ave., at 1:50 p.m.
Police said Nightingale slipped in and killed University of Chicago Ph.D. student Yiran Fan, 30, who was just sitting behind the wheel of his car.
Across the street and a block to the north at The Barclay condo complex, 4940 S. East End Ave., police said Nightengale shot two women - killing one of them, the doorwoman Aisha Johnson, 46, and wounding a 77-year-old woman who was getting her mail.
From there, he stole a red Toyota – demanding a man's keys at gunpoint on the 19th floor of an Indian Village residential high-rise – before making his way south.
Nightengale ended up at the AK Food Mart, 9307 S. Halsted St. Inside, police said he shot and killed Anthony Faulkner Jr., 20, about an hour and 45 minutes after killing Johnson.
He also shot the 81-year-old clerk, leaving her in critical condition.
"We were under a terror watch and we had no idea," said Faulkner's cousin, Shapearl Wells. "If those types of alerts - emergency alert systems - were activated, how many lives could have been saved?
Police said Nightengale went on to shoot a 15-year-old girl who was in the back seat of a car in the 10300 block of South Halsted Street, and then drove back by the AK Food Mart where he fired at officers investigating his earlier shooting – but did not strike anyone.
Surveillance video shows Nightengale driving off in the red Toyota, but on police radio, his vehicle description was inconsistent – in one instance being described as a gray car with tinted windows.
It ended up being a ShotSpotter call that alerted police that Nightengale had made his way to Evanston, where he shot yet another victim he had taken hostage at the IHOP at Howard Street and Asbury Avenue before he was finally shot and killed by police. The woman who was shot in the IHOP remained in critical condition Monday night.
Chicago Police said Nightengale's erratic behavior and apparently random targets are what made him so difficult to track.
"We don't have a crystal ball," said police Supt. David Brown. "We don't know where that red Toyota is anywhere in the city."
CBS 2 on Monday posed the question to the CPD that Faulkner's family asked – why were there were no alerts to the public as this was unfolding?
A spokesperson said that it was during the course of the investigations that it was determined the events were likely connected. It wasn't immediately apparent.
Meanwhile, we were unable to get a condition update on the three adult victims who at last check were all in critical condition. But Hickey did speak Monday afternoon to the 15-year-old girl who was shot in the car on South Halsted Street.
She remained in the hospital, but was stable - and her family was grateful for the thoughts and prayers they have received.
The investigations into the incidents remain active.
Also From CBS Chicago:
- 'I Don't Want You In The Store, I Don't Want You Near Me:' Elmhurst Cigar House Owner Puts Up Sign Reading, 'Biden Voters Keep Out'
- Markham Woman Furious After She Pays Home Depot Contractor To Build Fence, Gets Caught Up In Red Tape
- Victims Of Shooting Rampage That Stretched Across City Identified As Anthony Faulkner Jr., Doorwoman Aisha Johnson, University Of Chicago Ph.D. Student Yiran Fan
