The sleepy town of Joliet was jolted awake by the news of a horrific bloodbath this week, in a tragedy that saw eight lives snatched away, allegedly by a man with deep roots in the very community he is accused of tearing apart. The aftermath of this harrowing event took another turn as authorities arrested Kyleigh Cleveland-Singleton, 21, the girlfriend of the suspected shooter, and charged her with obstructing justice in their investigation, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Notably, Cleveland-Singleton not only shared a life with the perpetrator, parenting a 3-year-old son together but found herself entangled in a web of deceit when she allegedly made statements to prevent his apprehension, the statement was issued by the Joliet Police Department. Her 21-year-old self now faces one count of obstructing justice police confirmed, as her possible attempt to shield Romeo Nance, the 23-year-old suspected of this brutal shooting spree, from the law's incontrovertible reach, as mentioned in the CBS News report.
The deeply-felt sequence of loss started with the discovery of seven dead at two houses in Joliet, claimed to be the work of Romeo Nance, who was later found dead in Texas, evidently by his own hand, according to police. The deceased spanned across generations within his family: his mother Tameka Nance, 47; aunt Christine Esters, 38; uncle William Esters II, 35; brother Joshua, 31; and his sisters Alexandria, 20, Alonnah, 16, and Angel, 14. Another man, Toyosi Bakare, 28, was purportedly shot at random—his hopes and dreams concluding abruptly on American soil, far from his Nigerian origins, police said.
Investigators were led on a chase that crossed state lines, with details surfacing of Nance's last known actions, including switching license plates in a Texas shopping mall parking in hopes of evading capture—his desperate bid for freedom concluded tragically as law enforcement closed in, as detailed by authorities to Chicago Tribune. The girlfriend was apprehended in Plainfield after misleading statements.
While the dust settles on this grim chapter, Cleveland-Singleton awaits her day in court amidst a town wringing its hands over the senseless violence and the families extinguished in the fire of one man's rampage; a motive still eludes authorities. The somber tale continues with the charge of obstructing justice perhaps offering a cold comfort to a community that has already lost far too much.
