An Illinois man was arrested by law enforcement personnel after he fatally shot his wife and three daughters inside a suburban home in Tinley Park on Sunday.
In a statement, Village Manager Pat Carr said that the victims of the horrific incident were shot to death during a domestic incident at a home in the 7400 block of 173rd Street. Police arrived at the scene of the crime shortly before 11;30 a.m.
The victims' loved ones gathered at the scene on Sunday night with heavy hearts to mourn their loss. When law enforcement personnel arrived at the scene in the morning, they found four women dead inside the home, all with apparent gunshot wounds. They also discovered an uninjured man inside the house.
Police said that they immediately arrested the individual and investigators have said that the suspected shooter was later found to be the husband and father of the victims who made the 911 call.
The Cook County Medical Examiner also identified the victims as 59-year-old Majeda Kassem, 25-year-old Halema Kassem, 25-year-old Zahia Kassem, and 24-year-old Hanan Kassem. After the initial arrest, law enforcement personnel stayed on the scene to investigate the crime and recovered a weapon, as per ABC7 Chicago.
Carr noted that the fatal shootings were isolated to the inside of the home in Tinley Park and added that police were able to secure the area. He also said that currently, law enforcement officials were only looking at one suspect, the husband and father of the victims.
During a press conference on Sunday afternoon, Tinley Park Police Chief Tom Tilton said that there was no longer a threat to the public. He added that the killings were a "tragedy," not only for the family but also for the surrounding neighbors of the area.
The news of the deaths was disturbing for the people who lived nearby and even knew the family personally. One resident, Charlotte Vaitkus, said that her daughter knows the victims, adding that they went to school with the oldest son and were employed with the twin sisters.
Tragic Incident in Tinley Park
Her daughter always talked about how intelligent they were and that they had very high goals in life. Charges against the suspect, who remains in custody, are still pending and police have not revealed his name.
Vaitkus said that they never knew the family of the victims to have ever had any problems with each other. Tilton added that the entire situation appeared to be a domestic situation but did not provide further details about the crime, citing the ongoing investigation, according to NBC Chicago.
The incident comes after an early morning shooting on the Eisenhower Expressway on Chicago's Near West Side. The crime resulted in the death of a 25-year-old man and prompted officials to shut down the Paulina Street ramp for several hours on Thursday last week.
Bullets were said to have struck at least one car in the westbound lanes just before 3:30 a.m., and officials said that more than two dozen shell casings were left behind. It marked the seventh shooting on an expressway so far this year, said CBS News.
