Illinois State Police arrested two teenagers on Sunday in connection with a mass shooting that left five members of one family dead and two others wounded in East St. Louis. ISP Director Brendan Kelly announced the arrests at a news conference, saying the suspects were taken into custody at Holten State Park, a recreation area east of the city The Guardian.

The dead were identified as Cherie L. May, 49; Devin D. May, 24; Patricia A. May, 74; Quentin L. Thompson, 21; and Shania W. Thompson, 25 The Guardian. Two survivors were hospitalized across the river in St. Louis, Missouri. Kelly said no bystanders were struck, a significant detail: the shooting unfolded across three separate locations around East St. Louis rather than at a single site. This pattern suggests to investigators and outlets like KSDK that the attack targeted this specific family rather than occurring at random KSDK.

At least one of the arrested teenagers is related to at least one victim, Kelly stated. Neither suspect had been formally charged by Sunday's news conference. Illinois State Police are coordinating with the St. Clair County State's Attorney's Office to prepare charges Audacy/WBBM. In Illinois, felony cases follow a standard sequence: arrest first, then prosecutorial review, then formal charges — a gap that typically spans hours to days depending on how complex the evidence is.

The three-location pattern is crucial to how prosecutors will eventually frame the crime. A shooting at a single address is easier to characterize as one violent episode. A sequence across three sites, by contrast, suggests the shooters moved deliberately between targets, which carries different legal weight. Charges can range from first-degree murder to enhancements based on the number of victims or locations. St. Clair County prosecutors will need to establish not only who fired shots but also how the sequence of locations connects to relationships among victims and suspects — particularly significant given the familial tie Kelly disclosed.

Family-centered mass shootings of this scale are statistically uncommon in the broader landscape of U.S. mass shootings, which typically involve either domestic violence confined to one household or shooters with no family connection to victims. Five deaths within one extended family across three locations leans toward the profile of a targeted dispute or retaliatory killing rather than a spontaneous domestic incident. ISP has not publicly disclosed a motive, and Kelly's Sunday remarks offered little detail on that front.

The case received national coverage quickly. Reuters reported on the day of the shooting, and the New York Times published the same day New York Times. St. Louis Public Radio's July 12 report cited the same toll — five dead, two injured — and asked the public to submit tips to a dedicated ISP line, 618-571-4124 St. Louis Public Radio.

One detail complicates the public record: the video recording of Kelly's Sunday news conference, originally posted to Facebook Live, is no longer publicly accessible. It appears to have been deleted, made private, or had its sharing settings changed. This means reporters and researchers depend on secondhand accounts of what Kelly said rather than the original recording — a reminder of how quickly official video can disappear from public access, even in high-profile cases.

The prosecution will unfold in St. Clair County courts. Since both suspects are teenagers, prosecutors must decide whether to charge them as adults. Illinois law grants prosecutors discretion on this question for serious violent crimes above certain age thresholds. The family relationship between at least one suspect and a victim will likely shape bail arguments and, eventually, how a jury considers motive. For now, the public record consists of Kelly's Sunday statements and the confirmed toll: five family members dead, two wounded, two teenagers in custody without formal charges.