IL: Four dead in shooting on CTA Blue Line train in Forest Park

CHICAGO — Four people were killed in a shooting on a CTA Blue Line train in Forest Park on Monday morning, police in the western suburb said.

Officers were dispatched to the Forest Park Blue Line station, 711 Des Plaines Avenue, at 5:27 a.m. Monday after someone called 911 to report that three people had been shot on a train, Forest Park police said in a statement.

Three people were pronounced dead at the scene, police said, and a fourth shooting victim was pronounced dead shortly afterward at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood. The ages and identities of the victims were not released, but a representative from the Cook County Coroner's Office confirmed the four deaths.

Forest Park police said a suspect was later arrested on the Pink Line by Chicago police officers and a weapon was seized.

Cicely and Matt Gould said the shooting was atypical of their family-oriented hometown and not a reflection of local crime.

“It's pretty shocking because (the community) is so safe,” said Cicely Gould, who was hanging out at a local park Monday afternoon with her husband and two daughters, 4-year-old Harlem and 2-year-old Harper, before heading out to get some ice cream.

“When I saw it online this morning, I read it out loud to (Matt). I mean, the shooting happened literally right up the street from my house. But I wouldn't say it's a community thing. I feel very safe here. This is pretty much the end of the commuter rail line, so it's very busy.”

Standing in the parking lot of the Blue Line station in Forest Park on Monday afternoon, Logan Square resident Sean McNulty said he had to take a shuttle bus for the last part of his commute because service between Austin and Forest Park was still disrupted. McNulty said he takes the Blue Line at 4 a.m. most mornings to get to his job at a carpentry shop in Bensenville.

McNulty, who was unaware of the early morning shooting, said he was not surprised by the violence. Although his train is usually filled with other workers and people catching an early morning flight at O'Hare, McNulty said he has witnessed gang and other criminal activity as a longtime commuter.

“This is public transport,” he said, puffing on a cigarette. “It will be full of strange people. You kind of get used to it. I keep my eyes open because I always want to know what's going on around me.”

Hours after the shooting, Forest Park Mayor Rory Hoskins called the shooting a “runaway incident,” but added that the village's emergency responders are frequently dispatched to the Blue Line station. Hoskins also called for more security resources at the station as part of a possible reorganization of local transit operations.

“If our leaders in Springfield are considering restructuring CTA transit, we would ask them to consider investing additional resources in security, public safety, police personnel, etc. to support a small community like Forest Park that must respond to two major rail lines that terminate in Forest Park,” Hoskins said.

In an emailed statement Monday, a CTA spokesman said, “This heinous and egregious act of violence should never have taken place, especially not on a public transit train.”

“As soon as this incident was reported, CTA immediately deployed resources to assist Forest Park Police in their investigation, including reviewing all possible surveillance camera footage, which proved critical in assisting local law enforcement,” the agency's statement said.

The shooting was the first multiple-victim homicide on a CTA train in at least 30 years, according to city violence data, and the first fatal shooting of the year on a CTA train or at a station. Another killing occurred in January at the Roosevelt station in the South Loop, records show.

The mass shooting occurred less than a week after the CTA announced an AI-based program designed to more quickly notify police when weapons are discovered at CTA stations.

Blue Line train service between Forest Park and Austin stations has been suspended as police continue to investigate.

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