Yellow tape blocks off the parking lot of the Forest Park Blue Line train station in Forest Park, Ill., after four people were fatally shot on the train early Monday, Sept. 2, 2024.
Pat Nabong/Chicago Sun-Times via AP
Four people were killed on a commuter train in the Chicago area on Labor Day, police said.
Police were dispatched to a train station in Forest Park, a village 10 miles west of Chicago, at about 5:30 a.m. after receiving a call that three people were shot. Three people were pronounced dead on the scene, while one was transported to the hospital and died there, Forest Park police said.
The train was in motion on the system’s blue line, and the shooting happened across two cars, police said.
The suspect initially escaped from the scene, but was later found through Chicago Transit Authority surveillance video. Police now have the person in custody and seized a firearm in their possession.
“This is an isolated incident, so it can happen anywhere,” Forest Park Police Deputy Chief Christopher Chin said. “Obviously, there’s a little bit more concern because it is on a mass transit system, but understand that there are security measures in place, not only by our local police departments that run along the line, but also CTA, as well.”
Forest Park Mayor Rory Hoskins said the village’s fire and police departments are dispatched to the train station often. He added that village officials have petitioned to state leadership to allocate more resources to Forest Park for mental health and opioid addiction.
“To the extent that out leaders in Springfield [Illinois] are considering any kind of CTA mass transit reorganization, we would ask them to consider investing additional resources in terms of safety, public safety, law enforcement personnel, what have you, to support a small community like Forest Park that has to respond to two major train lines ending in Forest Park,” he said.
Information on the victims has not been released yet.
Forest Park police, Chicago police, the West Suburban Major Crimes Task Force and the Chicago Transit Authority are working together to investigate the shooting.
