Police still investigating weapons used in Joliet mass shootings

Joliet — The Will County Sheriff’s Office has released more information in the investigation of the Jan. 21 killings of eight people in Will County.

Will County sheriff’s detectives have concluded that the gun used in the slaying of Toyosi Bakare in unincorporated Joliet Township was the same weapon that suspect Romeo Nance used to take his own life during a standoff with police in Natalia, Texas, according to the sheriff’s office.

Bakare was the last of Nance’s victims but the first killing investigated, which led police to the discovery of the other victims in their homes in the 2200 block of West Acres Road in Joliet.

The Northeastern Illinois Regional Crime Laboratory assisted in positively identifying the weapon used in the crime, according to the sheriff’s office.

Joliet Police are still investigating if the same weapon was used in the fatal shootings of Nance’s seven family members earlier in the day and the non-fatal shooting of another man.

In addition to the gun, Will County detectives also took possession of the red Toyota Camry used by Nance during the crime spree and other “items of evidentiary value” from authorities in Texas this week.

The items will be used by the sheriff’s office and the Joliet Police Department as they continue their homicide investigations, the sheriff’s office said.

The sheriff’s office in a statement thanked the Medina County Sheriff’s Office in Hondo, Texas, and the Jasper County Sheriff’s Office in Carthage, Missouri, for “assisting in the transfer of critical evidence” needed to “further the investigations regarding these tragic events.”

Although Nance took his own life during the pursuit, the sheriff’s office and Joliet police are continuing to investigate the shootings in search of a motive. Charges have been filed against Nance’s girlfriend, Kyleigh Cleveland-Singleton, for allegedly obstructing the investigation by giving false statements to police.