Inside the investigation of East St. Louis ‘targeted mass shooting’

Investigators were processing the scene where a woman’s body was found in a storage tote in East St. Louis Sunday morning when an emergency alert came in.

The report was for “three subjects down,” prosecutors said at a court hearing Wednesday. At the time of the alert, law enforcement didn’t know the cases were related and that officers would find six more shooting victims throughout the day.

They were stepping into what Illinois State Police later called a “targeted mass shooting.”

Prosecutors allege a teenage couple is responsible for the deaths of five members of the 15-year-old girl’s family and the shooting injuries of two others. They detailed these allegations Wednesday while arguing that the 16-year-old boyfriend, Ja’ymeir M. Davis, should remain in custody pending trial.

Assistant State’s Attorney Dan Lewis said that narrative – though vehemently rejected by the defense – was largely informed by investigators’ accounts and their alleged conversations with Davis.

In total, Davis faces 12 felony charges, five of which are first-degree murder charges in connection with the deaths of:

• His girlfriend’s grandmother, Patricia May, 74
• His girlfriend’s aunt, Cherie May, 49
• His girlfriend’s sister, Shania Thompson, 25
• His girlfriend’s cousin, Devin May, 24
• His girlfriend’s brother, Quentin Thompson, 21

Davis is also charged with two counts of aggravated battery and two counts of attempted murder for allegedly shooting Tiffany Thompson, the girl’s mother, and Santosha Scott, the girl’s cousin, as well as dismembering a human body, aggravated vehicular hijacking and unlawful use of a stolen firearm.

The 15-year-old girl has been charged with first-degree murder and other unspecified charges in juvenile court, St. Clair County State’s Attorney’s Office spokesman Chris Allen said. Those records are not public.

Allen said in an earlier news release that the state’s attorney’s office hopes to try the minor as an adult. That happened automatically for Davis because juvenile court excludes first-degree murder from its jurisdiction when the defendant is 16 or older.

St. Clair County Associate Judge Sara Rice ordered that Davis remain incarcerated.

Bodies discovered

Charging documents say Cherie May was shot sometime between July 5 and 7, and Lewis told the court that Tiffany Thompson reported her gun missing to East St. Louis police on July 7.

That was days before Cherie May’s body was found in a storage tote outside the Samuel Gompers Homes on Sunday morning.

When responding to the emergency call that came in Sunday after Cherie May’s body was discovered, law enforcement encountered Tiffany Thompson and Scott suffering from gunshot wounds and found Quentin Thompson dead. Authorities have described the area as Jones Park.

Prosecutors allege Davis also took Scott’s SUV by force.

At that time, the women raised concerns for their other family members, leading law enforcement to begin searching for them, Lewis said.

He said cellphone location data helped authorities locate the teen suspects at Frank Holten State Park. Police used a “PIT maneuver” to stop the car Davis and the girl were reportedly in. It was not Scott’s vehicle, but another family member’s, Lewis said.

Authorities found a severed finger in the car, Lewis alleged. He said law enforcement asked the 15-year-old girl whose finger it was.

“My grandma’s,” the girl reportedly replied. “She’s dead.”

At that time, not all of the dead family members had been found — including Patricia May. But by the end of the day, authorities had identified five people who were killed, Lewis said.

Prosecutor says teen spoke to law enforcement

Lewis told the court Davis initially told investigators he was shot at, but then “started to come clean” when asked about the finger. Lewis alleged Davis said it was used to unlock Patricia May’s phone.

According to Lewis, Davis first told investigators Cherie May died first and was stabbed and shot inside her Gompers Homes apartment.

“It happened a while ago, I didn’t want to do it,” Davis allegedly told investigators after his Sunday arrest.

Lewis cited multiple messages believed to be between Davis and the 15-year-old girl that mention killing family members and moving Cherie May’s body.

Lewis said Davis told investigators that Cherie May’s son Devin May came into her apartment unexpectedly days after she died to look for her. The teens were cleaning up at the time and shot Devin May in the head, Davis allegedly said.

The 15-year-old girl allegedly “lured” her grandmother, Patricia May, into the apartment while Davis hid in a closet. Lewis said Davis told investigators he then stepped out and shot her in the side of the head. Lewis also said Davis told investigators they killed Patricia May for her money.

Lewis didn’t detail much of what Davis reportedly told investigators about the shootings that are believed to have occurred at Jones Park, but the charging documents say Quentin Thompson was shot “about the head and body.” They say Santosha Scott was shot in the back and Tiffany Thompson in the neck and back.

Shania Thompson was shot in the head, charging documents state. Lewis said her body was found in the back of Scott’s stolen car behind a residence near North 39th Street. Patricia May lived in that area, he added.

Davis’ defense attorneys Patrick Sullivan and Alec Wade, both assigned by the public defender’s office, did not address every accusation made against their client in court Wednesday.

But Sullivan said the prosecutors got the story wrong; alleging guns were pointed at Davis and, if anything, Davis should be in protective custody.

“This is not a case where he is the hunter, he is hunted,” Sullivan said.

The truth will come out at trial, Sullivan said.

Sullivan did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday evening.