Two school custodians were found shot dead inside a Chicago Public Schools building in the Garfield Ridge neighbourhood on Monday afternoon, in what preliminary police radio transmissions described as an apparent murder-suicide arising from a disagreement between the pair.
Chicago police said a 63-year-old man and a 48-year-old woman were found unresponsive inside Mark Twain Elementary School, in the 5100 block of South Lotus Avenue near Midway International Airport, at around 3.40 pm. Both had suffered a single gunshot wound to the head and were taken to Advocate Christ Medical Centre, where they were later pronounced dead, according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
Mark Twain Elementary School Shooting: What Do Police Believe Happened Inside The School?
According to police radio dispatches cited by the Chicago Sun-Times, the shooting stemmed from a disagreement between the two custodians, with one of the victims found inside the school’s lunchroom. Investigators recovered a weapon at the scene. Police said they were only classifying one of the two deaths as a homicide, according to ABC7 Chicago, though authorities had not publicly confirmed which victim they believe fired the fatal shots as the investigation continued.
Mark Twain Elementary School Shooting: Were Any Students Or Staff Present During The Shooting?
The school itself was not in session at the time of the shooting, with the Sun-Times reporting that no students were inside the building, since classes at Mark Twain Elementary do not begin until 24 August. Area 1 detectives were investigating the scene, according to CBS Chicago, as police worked to establish the full circumstances surrounding the incident.
Mark Twain Elementary School Shooting: How Has The Community Responded To The Shooting?
The custodians’ union offered condolences while stressing that many details remained unclear. SEIU Local 73 Executive Vice President Trumaine Reeves said in a statement, “The only facts we know right now are that two families have lost a loved one and our prayers are with their families, and the staff, students, and families at Mark Twain Elementary School,” according to ABC7 Chicago.
News of the shooting nonetheless rattled parents in the surrounding community ahead of the coming school year. Felicia Puga, a parent in the area, told CBS Chicago she was now reconsidering whether to send her daughter to a nearby school, saying, “Now I’m questioning if I should even send her, and hopefully there’s a school nearby, but we’re not in the district for it.”
With the school year still weeks away and the investigation ongoing, Chicago police have not released further details about what led to the confrontation between the two custodians, nor confirmed the exact sequence of events that led to both deaths.
