Five people, including three children, were shot to death in a suspected murder-suicide in Emington, Illinois, a farming community of only 100, 80 miles southwest of Chicago, officials there say.
Police have not yet identified who they believe was the shooter, but a neighbor said today she saw Sara McMeen, 30, shoot her 10-month baby Friday before apparently taking her own life. Continue reading after the jump.
A witness described the horrible moment McMeen, 30, placed the infant girl on the ground, wrapped her in a blanket and shot her at point blank range with a semi-automatic pistol.
She had apparently already gunned down her 29-year-old boyfriend Daniel and her two other children, the Pontiac Daily Leader reported.
When the neighbor ran for help. When she came back, McMeen was dead, as well, after turning the gun on herself.
Authorities have given no clue what could have led the mother of three to massacre her family.
McMeen’s mother Cynthia, who is a school bus driver in a town 12 miles north of Emington, issued a statement asking for privacy as the family copes with the deaths:
‘The family grieves over the loss of their loved ones. They realize this (tragic) incident affects not only their family, but other families as well. The family is drawing together during this time, relying on God, and grieving. They would ask for your prayers for all the families involved and would like their privacy to be honored.’
The neighbor who witnessed the shooting told the Daily Leader she walked outside when she heard the gunshots and saw McMeen wrap her infant daughter in a blanket on the ground in the backyard of her home.
When the neighbor asked if she was alright, the McMeen responded: ‘No, everything is not OK,’ then bent down and shot the baby at point-blank range.
The terrified neighbor ran for help. When she came back, the woman had turned the gun on herself and was dead, as well, the witness told the Daily Leader.
Authorities did not confirm the Daily Leader’s report, but said said the killing was a murder-sucide.
The shootings occurred at a house in Emington, Illinois, a town of just 100 people, where the Skyler and Ian Lemke, the two older children, were seen getting off a school bus just before they were killed.
‘They were happy because it was the last day of school before Christmas break,’ neighbor Ronald Groetsema said.
Neighbors reported seeing the school children playing in the backyard moments before they were gunned down.
The family had moved to the town of about 100 people about 80 miles southwest of Chicago this summer and the two older children attend school in nearby Saunemin.
The street where the family lived was closed off by police.
Livingston County Sheriff Martin Meredith said first responders found the bodies after Livingston County dispatchers received a call on Friday afternoon.
Coroner Michael Burke will release the names of the victims once relatives are notified, the sheriff said.
Livingston County authorities and Illinois State Police crime scene technicians were still working at the scene late on Friday, Sheriff Meredith said.
He declined to release additional details about the shooting, saying more information would be released Saturday morning.
Ronald Groetsema lives near the home where the family was found and said he heard six to eight gunshots, then heard a second round of four to six shots a few minutes later.
Mr Groetsema’s 12-year-old son got off the school bus with the children who died, he said.
Residents described Emington as a once strictly farming town that has gone through changes in the last 20 years as young families moved in.
Young said the town has become more of a bedroom community from which people commute north to cities such as Joliet, about 45 miles away.
‘We did have an awful disaster here,’ said Emington Mayor Daniel Delaney, who’s been in office for 24 years.
‘You never would have thought it would happen in our town of 100 people or less. It’s very sad. There were helicopters flying over earlier. Right now it’s just very, very, very sad for us here.’
Mayor Delaney said the town is not prosperous and has received help from the state.
‘It’s always really had a hard time. Most of the people are retired or farmers who moved into town,’ he said.
Emington has a post office that’s been targeted for closure and just a handful of small businesses – a grain elevator, a dog groomer and a small beauty salon.
The town, Livingston County Board member Bob Young said, had never experienced anything like Friday’s shootings.
‘I’ve lived here all my life. I guess, 60, 70 years ago we had a bank robbery, was the other big thing, but otherwise, nothing like this,’ he said.
Young said he did not know the family well.
‘We’ve seen the kids playing at the playground and talk to them,’ Mr Young said. ‘We thought everything was fine.’
