8 Dead In Joliet Shootings On West Acres Road, Joliet Township (2024)

The man police believed to be the shooter, 23-year-old Romeo Nance, died after a confrontation with police in Texas.

Posted Mon, Jan 22, 2024 at 2:17 pm CT|Updated Tue, Jan 23, 2024 at 8:04 am CT

Police said they were looking for 23-year-old Romeo Nance in connection with the slayings.

Joliet police said five gunshot victims were found at one of the homes, and two more at the other on West Acres Road.

Nance, whose address is listed as the 2200 block of West Acres in Joliet records, was believed to be driving a red Toyota Camry with the license plate Q730412 — the same vehicle being sought in connection with an eighth homicide on Sunday.

By 10 p.m., Joliet police learned that Nance had taken his own life in Texas during a confrontation with police there. They had previously described him as "armed and dangerous."

UPDATE: Romeo Nance, Joliet Mass Murder Suspect, Dies In Texas: JPD

Killings Are Related

Joliet Police Sgt. Dwayne English told Patch that investigators believe the slayings on West Acres are related to another killing at the Pheasant Run Apartments in Joliet Township on Sunday afternoon, as well as a non-fatal shooting in the 200 block of Davis Street in which a 42-year-old man was shot in the leg.

During a news conference Monday night, held before police learned of Nance's death, Joliet Police Chief Bill Evans said police do not have a motive in the shootings, but believe the victims in both West Acres homes were related. He said Nance knew his victims, but would not say how he is connected to them.

Evans said that in his 29 years in law enforcement, "this is probably the worst crime scene" he's encountered.

Will County Sheriff's Chief Deputy Dan Jungles would not comment on whether investigators believe anyone was with Nance, and urged Will County residents to be cautious.

"We’re telling individuals to be vigilant and to stay safe," he said.

"If you have any contact with this suspect, please, contact your local authorities," Chief Evans stressed. "Do not attempt to take this suspect into custody on your own."

Watch Monday night's news conference:

Bodies Found In 2 Homes

Jungles said the sheriff's deputies responded to the Pheasant Run Apartments off of Pheasant Run Road in unincorporated Joliet Township just before 4:30 p.m. Sunday to find gunshot victim Toyosi Bakare bleeding from the head.

Bakare, 28, was taken to an area hospital, where he died. Bakare came to the Joliet area three years ago from Nigeria.

At around the same time of Sunday's homicide, Joliet police responded to the non-fatal shooting in the 200 block of Davis Street.

Jungles said investigators were able to track down information on the suspect, believed to be using the red Camry as a getaway car, and had one of the West Acres homes under surveillance, hoping the vehicle would return.

"We had surveillance on it all throughout the night and into this morning, a constant surveillance hoping that the vehicle would return to that residence, which it did not and that's when we made the decision to try to make contact with the registered owner of the vehicle," Jungles told reporters at Monday night's press conference on West Acres Road.

When the sheriff's deputies went to one of the homes on West Acres just before noon Monday, they found blood outside the house, leading to the discovery of the bodies in both homes. One house had two victims and the other had five.

English said no one in the area reported hearing gunshots.

Joliet's chief of police said authorities believe Nance has a connection to everyone who was killed on West Acres Road, as well as the two people shot late Sunday afternoon.

"We do believe that both of those shooting investigations from yesterday (Sunday) have some correlation with these shootings here today that we're dealing with," Chief Evans told reporters.

Nance Known To Joliet Police

Nance was arrested a year ago, accused of firing a gun at a woman multiple times as she was driving in Joliet.

On Jan. 3, 2023, a 36-year-old woman was driving southbound on North Larkin Avenue from Route 30 when a black four-door sedan vehicle began honking while he was behind her.

At the time, Joliet police said the man then pulled up to the victim in the 1300 block of North Larkin Avenue and threw a water bottle at her. The victim called 911 and both vehicles proceeded westbound on Ingalls Avenue, at which time the motorist pointed a gun back toward her, and he began firing multiple rounds.

The vehicles continued through a nearby neighborhood, ending in the area of Ingalls Avenue and Brentwood Place, where the gunman fired more rounds at the victim and then sped southbound on Brentwood Place, police said. The woman's car and a residence in the 1300 block of Brentwood Place were struck by gunfire, but no one was hurt.

Joliet police identified Nance as their suspect in the 2023 shooting, and he was arrested weeks later after officers spotted him getting into a vehicle outside his home in the 2200 block of West Acres.

At the time, police said Nance put up a struggle as they attempted to take him into custody. Police said officers found a loaded gun in the car with Nance when he was arrested Jan. 26, 2023. He was charged with aggravated discharge of a weapon, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, aggravated assault, reckless discharge of a firearm and obstructing a peace officer.

Will County jail records indicate he has been free after posting $10,000 of his $100,000 bail — issued before Illinois' SAFE-T Act establishing cashless bail went into effect in September — since March 10, 2023.

His next court date in the 2023 case was scheduled for Feb. 1.

In 2019, Nance was arrested on robbery charges after he and another man were accused of taking cellphones from two victims. Court records show the robbery charges were later dropped, and he pleaded guilty to a cannabis possession charge, and was sentenced to time served in jail, 30 hours of community service and 24 months' probation, as well as being ordered to obtain a GED or high school diploma.