Authorities say the East St. Louis shootings unfolded across several locations and left two additional members of the same family wounded.

EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — Two teenagers were arrested after five members of one family were killed and two others were wounded in shootings across East St. Louis, a case that investigators described as targeted and that relatives say grew out of conflict over the teenagers’ relationship.

The dead were identified by Illinois State Police as Cherie L. May, 49; Shania W. Thompson, 25; Devin May, 24; Quentin L. Thompson, 21; and Patricia A. May, 74. All seven people who were shot were related to the 15-year-old girl who was arrested with 16-year-old Ja’ymier Davis, authorities said. Davis was charged as an adult with five counts of first-degree murder and seven additional felony counts. Prosecutors also filed a juvenile delinquency petition against the girl that includes first-degree murder allegations and said they would seek to transfer her case to adult criminal court.

The investigation began July 12 after human remains were discovered at the Samuel Gompers Homes, according to state police. The person found there was later identified as Cherie May. As investigators worked through the case, they identified four other people who had been killed at multiple locations in the city and two survivors who had been taken to hospitals. Police have not released a complete public minute-by-minute account of the shootings, but court reporting and the state police announcement show that the deaths were not confined to a single scene. One of the fatal shootings may have happened several days before most of the others.

Charging information presented in court placed the violence at three East St. Louis locations, including the Samuel Gompers housing complex and Jones Park. Court records reported by The Associated Press say Cherie May was shot days before the weekend in which most of the shootings took place. Spectrum News reported that charging documents placed one shooting between July 5 and July 7. That gap is significant because it suggests the case developed over more than one episode, even though authorities publicly described the broader event as a targeted mass shooting centered on the weekend.

Relatives have offered the clearest public explanation for why the family may have been targeted, but that account has not been established as an official motive in the charging documents. Lamarion Smiley, whose wife was among the survivors, told local television station KSDK that the two teenagers had been in a relationship opposed by members of the girl’s family. He said the couple had run away together before and that relatives had brought the girl home. Smiley told the station that he believed the teens wanted to remove people who objected to the relationship. The girl’s father, Marcus May, separately told news outlets that she had been angry with relatives and had plotted with Davis.

Prosecutors have pointed to digital communications as part of their case. At Davis’ detention hearing, Assistant State’s Attorney Daniel Lewis described screenshots of social media messages that prosecutors say showed discussion of killing members of the girl’s family. Spectrum News reported that Lewis read brief portions of the exchanges in court, including one message attributed to the girl that said they were “about to kill” her family and another asking Davis whether he would act for the two of them. Prosecutors said Davis replied affirmatively. Those messages are allegations presented by the state; they have not been tested at trial, and the defense disputes the prosecution’s account.

Investigators also linked shell casings from the shootings to a gun that a family member had reported stolen on July 7, according to the prosecutor’s presentation described by Spectrum News. Davis told investigators that the girl had given him the gun, prosecutors said. Law&Crime, citing relatives and local reporting, said the firearm had been kept in the girl’s mother’s lockbox and was taken after access was gained with her keys. The precise chain of possession and the weight that a court will give the firearm evidence remain matters for the criminal case rather than established findings of guilt.

One of the charges against Davis is dismembering a human body. Authorities allege that after Patricia May was killed, her right thumb was removed. The allegation was included in court reporting by the AP and in the charge list released by state police. The detail is relevant because it is the basis for a separate felony count, but officials have not publicly released a full evidentiary record explaining every action they say followed Patricia May’s death. News reports have described a possible connection to access to a phone, but the core verified public fact is that prosecutors charged Davis with dismemberment in addition to the homicide counts.

Davis faces 12 counts in all: five counts of first-degree murder, two counts of attempted first-degree murder, two counts of aggravated battery, one count of aggravated vehicular hijacking, one count of dismembering a human body and one count of unlawful use of a stolen firearm, state police said. A judge ordered him held pending further proceedings after a July 15 hearing. His public defender, Patrick Sullivan, said the defense strongly disagreed with prosecutors’ version of events and argued that Davis had been a target rather than an aggressor. No evidence or witness testimony was presented by the defense at that hearing, Spectrum News reported.

The 15-year-old girl has not been publicly named because her case began in juvenile court. State police said a delinquency petition filed against her includes first-degree murder charges and that the St. Clair County state’s attorney intended to seek a transfer to adult criminal court. That transfer question is separate from whether the allegations can ultimately be proved. Juvenile proceedings also limit the amount of public information available compared with the adult case against Davis, leaving important details about the exact allegations against her, her defense and the schedule of future hearings less visible in the public record.

The killings left one family grieving across several generations. Patricia May was the oldest victim at 74. Cherie May was 49, while Shania Thompson, Devin May and Quentin Thompson were all in their 20s. Marcus May told the AP that among those he lost were his mother, a sister, a nephew and two stepchildren. Two other relatives survived gunshot wounds. Police have not released all of the survivors’ medical information, and later public reporting reviewed for this story did not establish a new official condition update. The scope of the losses, rather than any single crime-scene detail, has remained central to relatives’ public accounts.

The arrests came after state troopers stopped a vehicle connected to the suspects and took the teenagers into custody at a state park, according to Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly as reported by the AP. Authorities said there was no broader public threat connected to the shootings. The investigation involved the East St. Louis Police Department and the Illinois State Police Public Safety Enforcement Group, which took over after the first remains were found and then connected the additional victims and scenes. That rapid expansion from one discovery to several deaths is one reason the case drew immediate regional attention.

Even as relatives have spoken publicly about a relationship conflict, the legal case will turn on admissible evidence rather than family interpretation alone. Prosecutors must prove the charges beyond a reasonable doubt, and state police emphasized that criminal charges are not evidence of guilt. Davis’ defense has already signaled that it contests the state’s narrative. The girl’s legal status also remains unsettled because the prosecution’s effort to move her case into adult court is a procedural step, not a determination of guilt or of the final charges she could face there.

Davis remained accused in adult court, while prosecutors had said they would seek adult-court treatment for the 15-year-old. The timing of later proceedings and any formal resolution of the transfer request were not clearly established in the reviewed public sources. Both teenagers are presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in court.

Author note: Last updated Aug. 22, 2026.