LIVE: Forest Park police speak after 4 killed in CTA Blue Line train shooting

it's unfortunate that we're here today to discuss shooing on CTA I'm joined by our village administrator Rachel etler our Deputy police chief Chris chin who's leading the investigation and Lieutenant Dan Miller so I'll turn it over to deputy chief chin morning everyone um we're gathered here you know to report of an unfortunate incident that happened early this morning shortly before 5:30 this morning on inbound GTA Blue Line train into the Forest Park stop um currently you know we know that there are four deceases from this incident from this shooting and we do have a suspect in custody you know coordinate efforts between the Chicago Police Department the Chicago Transit Authority you and our Forest Park Police Department and West bourbon uh Major Crimes task force currently we are under investigation we have somebody in custody weapon was recovered there's no immediate threat you know this appears to be an isolated incident on this unfortunate day we believe it's isolated you know again this is we're in the preliminary stages of this investigation so video evidence is being reviewed um Chicago Transit Authority is very helpful they have excellent camera systems on the train so right now we're investigating that but we at this point we believe it's isolated it contain to one train car um as of now we believe it was two train cars but again this is still the beginning beginning of the investigation the victims they were all passengers on the train early this morning the train was in motion on the way into Forest Park can you talk about a little bit yes I mean we received a 911 call our response is very quick um again you know we don't have a lot of information you know in regards to how it transpired but you know know that police response was contacted 911 was contact and police Personnel were dispatch as well as EMS did the victims all appear to be in one group or were they kind of spread out you know I don't have that information at this time do you know anything about uh the victims ages male females anything like that no currently we do not you know right now the investigation you know they're contacting next toin and uh you know informing their families as far as charges go Chic it will be coming out through whatever jurisdiction the crime actually occurred if it occurred actually in force park in our jurisdiction yes we will be prosecuting through the mayor court house if it happened in another jurisdiction you know again we'll have to find that out through our investigation I couldn't hear you currently that suspect is being held at the Forest Park Police Department and we believe it was only one suspect or one offender last week there was an AI roll out about gun detection on the CTA TR do you know if that helped at all in this investigation that how people alerted you know that is through Chicago Transit Authority so I don't have that information available you talk about like how you guys also work with cury suspect talk a little more about that yes we have a strong relationship with Chicago Transit Authority through their security teams you know as well as with their surveillance cameras as well as with other jurisdictions such as Chicago so you know coordinated efforts that's how we were able to identify and locate a suspect in this you talk about a time frame like from when you guys had those details found L uh quite honestly I was informed of this around 7 a.m. and about that time you know within an hour and a half or less than that is when the suspect was in custody surveillance video helpful this yes yes it was surveillance video is vital in a lot of our investigations especially in this oneall I mean general safety this is an isolated incident you know so it can happen anywhere uh obviously there's a little bit more concern because it hasn't a mass transit system but you know understand that there are security measures in place not only by our local police departments that run along the line but also CTA as well some of the people we were talking to were getting on and off buses were like hey I might have been on that you talk about just you know they're like we don't expect to happen here is that common I mean what what would you say as far as the environment it this you know obviously is shocking you know it is uncommon you know to have a mass shooting like this especially this close to home you know that we actually actively investing on you know on a holiday um so you know for people to feel unsafe uh you know it's Justified you know if anybody does see anything in terms of that doesn't seem right you know we always encourage people to call 9 one might be for you might be for mayor but I mean four people are on a holiday speak to that the aspect of that I mean it's a horrible situation you know it's definitely something that you don't want to wake up to you know it's a Monday morning on a holiday everyone's supposed to be you know enjoying their time off time with their families it's Labor Day you know so to actually have to be here you to address the situ like like this it's you know horrible Mr Mayor do you I just want to add one thing um so it's a horrible tragedy that four people are dead on Labor Day weekend our police department and our fire department respond to this location probably more than any other location uh in in our jurisdiction Forest Park is the only community in Cook County 14,000 people with two major train lines that end in Forest Park so we provide police response and fire and medical response and so to the extent that our leaders in Springfield are considering any kind of CTA mass transit reorganization we would ask them to consider investing additional resources in terms of safety public safety law enforcement Personnel what have you to support a small community like Forest Park that has to respond to two major train lines ending in Forest Park we've had press conferences here in the last year with our state reps we've been to Springfield to call on more resources to deal with issues like mental health opioid addiction you name it but this is a outlier we we never really have mass shootings like this that end in Forest Park and so for that reason I'm here to support the deputy chief and the police chief police staff excuse me May what doces you know it could be a combination of that it could be more workers on the trains you know we have a partnership with um shower up that provides services to unhoused people regularly in the Village of Forest Park we have a partnership with the Westside opioid task force that responds to uh you know addiction issues among homeless people riding the green line and the blue line so it's for experts to determine what it looks like but what we've learned is that you know over the last few years our number of responses have increased exponentially and so we're calling on our leadership countywide Statewide to invest more resources to support a small community like Forest Park and secure area overdose criminal activity it kind of runs the gamut but a lot of Overdose here here yes yes obviously I'm sure you'll get more details the day's the best to get upd from you you can check on our website um if anybody has any tips you know or has witness or any information to pass along you know we had uh asked that you contact us at Force Park Police Department 708 366 2425 or you can email us at detectives Force park.net thank you