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Chris Green
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John Bacon
| Rockford Register Star
Suspect goes on a rampage at the bowling alley in Illinois
Police say they believe the rampage was a random attack.
USA TODAY
ROCKFORD, Illinois – An active member of the military is charged with murder after a shooting at a bowling alley in which three people were killed and three others wounded, authorities said Sunday.
Duke Webb, 37, was detained at Winnebago County Jail without charge on three charges of first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder in the attack on Saturday. His first court appearance was on Monday.
“We believe it was a completely arbitrary act,” police chief Dan O’Shea said Sunday. “There is no prior meeting or any kind of relationship between the suspect and any of the victims in this case.”
The tragedy contributes to the deadliest year recorded for this city of 150,000 people, 90 miles west of Chicago. Saturday’s killings this year were 35 murders, the most of any year on records dating back to 1965. The next highest total was 31, recorded in 1996.
Rockford’s spending is a recurring theme in the country. According to the independent data collection and research group Gun Violence Archive, more than 41,500 people nationwide have died this year due to gun violence, which is a record.
Cities across America – including Milwaukee; Indianapolis; Cincinnati and Columbus, Ohio; Greensboro, North Carolina; Kansas City, Missouri; Louisville, Kentucky; and Trenton, New Jersey – surpassed all their homicide records this year. Others, such as Philadelphia and Fort Worth, Texas, see their highest number in decades.
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Mayor Tom McNamara said the country’s eyes are on his city and its residents need to show how they ‘respond to an incident like this, like one Rockford, supporting and coming together.’
“This kind of violence in the city of Rockford must stop,” said Mayor Tom McNamara. “This kind of violence in our whole country must stop.”
Webb, a Florida resident, was arrested within minutes after officers arrived on the scene. He tried to hide his identity and hide two weapons recovered from the scene, O’Shea said. No officers fired their weapons while arresting Webb, O’Shea said.
Don Carter Lanes contains the street, a bar and an off-site ban. The bowling alley and the lower level of the complex were closed due to COVID-19 prescriptions, but a bar on the top floor operated in accordance with about 20 to 25 people, O’Shea said.
“The two teenage victims were picking up food. It’s also a transportation industry,” O’Shea said. “They were not in the bar area.”
O’Shea said shots were fired inside and outside the complex. According to him, most of the incident was captured on video in the company.
Webb is charged with fatally shooting three men, aged 73, 65 and 69. He is also accused of shooting and wounding a 14-year-old boy, who was shot in the face and taken to a hospital in Madison, a 16-year-old woman. old girl and a 62-year-old man who is in critical condition after being operated on because of the shooting.
Contributions: TODAY Grace Hauck, USA