Funeral held for 7 of the 8 victims in Joliet-area shootings

JOLIET, Ill. — The funerals for seven of the eight victims killed in last month’s shootings in the Joliet area were held Saturday.

Funeral services for Christine and William Esters and Tameaka, Joshua, Alexandria, Alonnah and Angel Nance were held at Victory City Church in Joliet.

The seven were all related to 23-year-old gunman Romeo Nance, who died the next day in Texas of a self-inflicted gunshot wound when confronted by police. An eighth victim is said to have been shot randomly.

The Chicago Sun-Times reported that the family members’ remains were transported in white caskets decorated with purple, pink, white and green flowers. A line stretched to the church in Joliet where the services were held.

“I thought I would have words for today, but I don’t,” said Cara Esters, the surviving member of the murdered immediate family. “I have no words for our grief, and I don’t think I ever will.”

Investigators said they believe Nance first shot seven people at the homes of two relatives in Joliet and then randomly shot two men — one outside an apartment building and another on a residential street. One of the men survived.

Authorities previously identified a man killed outside the apartment building as Toyosi Bakare, a 28-year-old man originally from Nigeria who had lived in the U.S. for about three years.

Nance fatally shot himself after U.S. Marshals found him near Natalia, Texas, about 30 miles (48 kilometers) southwest of San Antonio and more than 1,000 miles (1,690 kilometers) from Joliet, authorities said. He had no known ties to Texas.