At least 4 dead in shooting spree in Chicago and Evanston

A deadly shooting spree Saturday that started in Chicago and ended in a shootout in nearby Evanston left at least four people dead, including the person thought to be the gunman, and at least four others critically wounded.

The suspect was killed in a shootout with Evanston police officers after a rampage that targeted seemingly random victims, including a 15-year-old girl shot in the head while riding in a car with her mother and a woman who was taken hostage in a restaurant before being shot by her captor.

Among the dead were a building security guard and a man, believed to be a University of Chicago student, whose body was found in a parked car.

The Chicago Police superintendent, David Brown, identified the suspect as Jason Nightengale, 32, of Chicago. Brown said at a news conference Saturday that the shooting spree began just before 2 p.m., when the suspect entered a South Side parking garage and shot a man sitting in a car, killing him.

Minutes later, Brown said, Nightengale entered an apartment building and began firing, killing a security guard and critically wounding a 77-year-old woman. He then walked to another apartment building, where he held an acquaintance at gunpoint, demanding the man’s car keys.

From there, Brown said, Nightengale drove to a convenience store, where he shot and killed a 20-year-old man and critically wounded an 80-year-old woman.

Nightengale is also suspected in the shooting Saturday of the 15-year-old girl, who is in critical condition, Brown said. From there, the suspect headed north to Evanston.

At 5:38 p.m., Nightengale fired shots inside a CVS drugstore in Evanston and then went to a nearby IHOP, where he took a woman hostage before shooting her in the head, according to Evanston’s police chief, Demitrous Cook. The woman had initially been listed in critical condition, but some news outlets were reporting Sunday that she had since died.

The rampage came to an end soon after, when the police, responding to reports of a disturbance at the CVS, confronted Nightengale in a parking lot, shooting and killing him.

Brown praised the Evanston officers, saying they had prevented more bloodshed.

“But for the brave conduct of Evanston police officers confronting the suspect, many more people would have been injured,” he said. “So we should take our hats off to Evanston PD and the hardworking officers of the Chicago Police Department for their investigation as we continue to look for motives and other reasons for this happening.”

Brown said that the investigation was still in the preliminary stage and did not comment on a possible motive.

The student newspaper at the University of Chicago, The Chicago Maroon, reported that the man found dead in a car in the parking garage was enrolled in the school.

In a post on Twitter, the university said, “It was with great sadness that we informed our community tonight that a current student of the university was shot and killed.

“This is deeply painful news for our community and South Side neighborhood,” the university said.