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Chris Green
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John Bacon
| Rockford Register Star
Suspect continues to shoot furiously at Illinois bowling alley
The police say they believe the violence was a random attack.
USA TODAY
ROCKFORD, Illinois – An active member of the Army was charged with murder after a shooting at a bowling complex that left three dead and three injured, officials said on Sunday.
Duke Webb, 37, was held at Winnebago County Jail without bail on three counts of first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder in Saturday’s attack. His first court hearing was scheduled for Monday.
“We believe it was a completely random act,” said police chief Dan O’Shea on Sunday. “There is no prior meeting or any kind of relationship between the suspect and any of the victims in this case.”
The tragedy adds up to what has been the deadliest year on record for this city of 150,000, 90 miles west of Chicago. Saturday’s murders marked 35 homicides this year, most of any year on records dating from 1965. The next highest total was 31, recorded in 1996.
Rockford’s problems are a recurring theme across the country. More than 41,500 people died of armed violence this year across the country, a record, according to the independent data collection and research group Gun Violence Archive.
Cities across America – including Milwaukee; Indianapolis; Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio; Greensboro, North Carolina; Kansas City, Missouri; Louisville, Kentucky; and Trenton, New Jersey – have already surpassed their homicide records this year. Others, like Philadelphia and Fort Worth, Texas, are seeing their highest numbers in decades.
‘They are not forgotten’: Another epidemic in America killed 41,000 people this year
Mayor Tom McNamara said the nation’s eyes are on his city, and that its residents must show how they “respond to an incident like this, like a Rockford, by supporting each other and coming together”.
“This kind of violence in the city of Rockford needs to stop,” said Mayor Tom McNamara. “This type of violence across our country needs to stop.”
Webb, a Florida resident, was taken into custody minutes after police arrived. He tried to hide his identity and hide two weapons that were recovered from the scene, O’Shea said. No police officers fired while taking Webb into custody, O’Shea said.
Don Carter Lanes includes the alley, a bar and an off-track betting site. The bowling alley and the lower level of the complex were closed due to COVID-19 regulations, but an upstairs bar operated with a capacity of about 20-25 people, O’Shea said.
“The two teenage victims were taking food. It is a travel establishment too,” said O’Shea. “They weren’t in the bar area.”
O’Shea said shots were fired inside and outside the compound. Most of the incident was captured on surveillance video inside the company, he said.
Webb is accused of fatally shooting three men aged 73, 65 and 69. He is also accused of shooting and injuring a 14-year-old boy, who was shot in the face and flown to a hospital in Madison, a 16-year-old student. girl and a 62-year-old man, who is in critical condition after being operated on during the shooting.
Contributing: Grace Hauck, USA TODAY