Our 'betters' in the legacy media never hesitate to jump on a shooting, so it was odd to this writer when she encountered a story from The Associated Press about a mass shooting in Chicago that garnered basically no national attention whatsoever from the MSM. Nothing like what we typically see with shootings of this sort.
Between Sunday and Monday (January 21st and 22nd), a 23-year-old man named Romeo Nance, the alleged suspect, shot and killed 8 people. Police report that the victims were all related to Nance. A ninth person was wounded.
The victims were found Sunday and Monday at three separate homes.
BREAKING: Man suspected of killing 8 people outside Chicago was related to most of the victims, police say https://t.co/ZW4cYQdp7t
— The Associated Press (@AP) January 23, 2024
Now, normally a shooting that took the lives of eight people would be on every major network, and our elected 'leaders' would never let us hear the end of it. So why is this shooting different?
Wait. What?
— Georgia Giant (@GeorgiasGiant) January 25, 2024
Mass shootings are back burner news now?https://t.co/tHUuGhYpVc
The Associated Press has also very subtly shifted the terms here, using 'mass killing' rather than 'mass shooting'. However, since there is no one set definition of 'mass shooting', it's not entirely incorrect. The AP has compiled a database, along with USA Today in a partnership with Northeastern University and defines a mass killing as 'an attack in which four or more people have died, not including the perpetrator, within a 24-hour period.'
These types of shootings make up vast majority of "mass shootings". They don't make national news for obvious reasons.
— Asmodeus (@FranklinCo33175) January 24, 2024
This brings up an excellent point. 'Roughly 12 percent of mass killings are mass public shootings (incidents that occur in the absence of other criminal activity such as robberies, drug deals, and gang-related turf wars) in which a gun is used to kill four or more victims at a public location. Most mass killings are familicides (murders of family members or intimate partners) and felony-related killings (such as robberies gone awry or gang-related “turf battles”).'
This slight distinction is likely why these types of mass shootings are not treated the same way as instances such as Columbine or Las Vegas, and yet they are counted in the statistics regarding mass shootings. This is intentionally deceptive and misleading in a deliberate effort to make mass public shootings seem far more common than they actually are.
Authorities in Joliet, Illinois, give updates in the case of Romeo Nance, who's accused of killing eight people before fatally shooting himself in Texas.
— NewsNation (@NewsNation) January 23, 2024
More: https://t.co/QUSRS9aXZc pic.twitter.com/hIdTHu7x1l
Sound like a spree, not a mass shooting.
— The Real Liekitisn’t (not Parody) (@liekitisnot) January 23, 2024
This writer agrees. A killing that involves four or more victims in more than one location in a relatively short period of time are typically classified as spree killings, but we're getting off into the weeds now.
Nance fled Illinois after the murders and was discovered by authorities in Texas. He was confronted and surrounded at a gas station where he ended his own life. No motive has been uncovered as of this writing.
Nance also had a criminal record and was out on bond for allegedly shooting at a car with a woman inside last year.
Right, you could start by keeping violent criminals in jail.
— Stop Lying, Stop Crying (@juststopthelie) January 25, 2024
Romeo Nance was on bail and due back in court in February for charges of aggravated assault, reckless discharge of a firearm and obstructing a peace officer after trying to shoot a woman multiple times in 2023. https://t.co/Gq40GGfHXQ
Illinois has some of the strictest gun laws too. Imagine that.
— Mad Bull America (@america_mad) January 23, 2024
Not to mention the previous gun charges he was still awaiting trial for would've made Nance a prohibited person per the ATF. The U.S. has gotten entirely too lenient with violent offenders, particularly in Democrat-run states/cities, so these types of tragedies are becoming commonplace occurrences.
Terrible tragedy.
— Lake Wobegon Man 🇺🇲 (@LakeWobegonMan) January 23, 2024
Families broken forever.
This is horrifying 😞😞🙏🙏
— Becky C 🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸 (@BGraceful) January 23, 2024
'I've been a police officer for 29 years, and this is the worst crime scene I've ever been associated with,' Joliet Chief Bill Evans said.
According to authorities, the relationships between Nance and seven of his eight victims included his mother, a bed-ridden older brother, three younger sisters, an uncle and an aunt who was a corrections officer at Joliet's Treatment Center.
- Tameka Nance, 47 years old, was the suspect's mother.
- Christine Esters, 38 years old, was the suspect's aunt.
- William Esters II, 35 years old, was the suspect's uncle.
- Joshua Nance, 31 years old, was the suspect's brother.
- Alexandria Nance, 20 years old, was the suspect's sister.
- Two teen girls, 16 and 14, were also sisters of the suspect.
The eighth victim was a 28-year-old man named Toyosi Bakare. He was a Nigerian immigrant who had only been in the U.S. for three years.
Our hearts and prayers here at Twitchy go out to these victims and their loved ones.
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