Four people were fatally shot aboard a transit train Monday morning in a suburb west of Chicago, in what authorities said was an “isolated” episode.
The shooter fled but was later taken into custody, officials said. A motive for the shooting was not immediately clear.
The shooting, aboard a train at the Forest Park Station in Forest Park, about 10 miles west of Chicago, was reported to police around 5:30 a.m., the Village of Forest Park said in a statement.
Authorities said the victims, who have not been publicly identified, were shot on a westbound Chicago Transit Authority Blue Line train.
Three people were pronounced dead at the station and a fourth victim died at a hospital, the Village of Forest Park said. Authorities did not make public the victims’ ages or genders.
Deputy Chief Christopher Chin of the Forest Park Police Department told reporters at a news conference Monday that the train was headed toward the Forest Park Station when the shooting happened.
The victims were all passengers, and the shooting was believed to have taken place in two train cars. It was unclear how many people were on the train at the time of the shooting.
Police relied on video surveillance to find the shooter at a Pink Line station, authorities said. Police also recovered a firearm.
Chin said the shooting was an “isolated” episode.
“This, obviously, is shocking,” he said. “It is uncommon to have a mass shooting like this particularly close to home.”
At the news conference, Forest Park Mayor Rory Hoskins described the shooting as an “outlier.”
“We never really have mass shootings like this that end in Forest Park,” he told reporters.
The Chicago Transit Authority said security footage was “vital” in helping the authorities track down the shooter.
“Although this was an isolated incident, this heinous and egregious act of violence should never have occurred,” the authority said.
The Blue Line train, which operates 24 hours, offers service between Forest Park and Chicago O’Hare International Airport, with stops in downtown Chicago.
Hoskins said the Forest Park Fire and Police Departments responded to the Forest Park Station “probably more than any other” station within their jurisdiction. He called on the transit authority to invest more resources to improve public safety.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
