Metro-east crime roundup: ESTL mass shooting, arson and more. Here's what to know

A wave of serious criminal cases across the metro-east has resulted in charges ranging from a targeted mass shooting in East St. Louis to federal sex crimes and an attempted bank robbery. Here’s a look at recent cases moving through St. Clair and Madison county courts.

Here are key takeaways:

• Five members of the same family were killed and two others hospitalized in what Illinois State Police called a targeted mass shooting across three East St. Louis crime scenes, with two teenage suspects arrested at Frank Holten State Park.
• Prosecutors allege 16-year-old Ja’ymeir M. Davis and a 15-year-old girl killed five of the girl’s family members, and Davis now faces 12 felony charges including five counts of first-degree murder, along with charges of dismembering a human body and aggravated vehicular hijacking.
• Investigators say a severed finger from victim Patricia May was found in the teens’ car and allegedly used to unlock her phone, according to testimony from Assistant State’s Attorney Dan Lewis at Davis’ detention hearing.
• Raymond J. Generous Jr., 42, was indicted on four additional counts of aggravated arson and one count of criminal damage to property in a Lenzburg house fire case, with charges tied to injuries five firefighters sustained including dehydration requiring IV fluids and an eye injury.
• Generous allegedly told first responders other people were inside the burning home — a false claim that caused firefighters to enter the engulfed house, according to an assistant state’s attorney at his pretrial detention hearing.
• Tony S. Accardi, 64, of unincorporated Granite City, was charged with attempted first-degree murder after allegedly hitting a neighbor with his truck, telling police he deliberately struck the victim over a long-running feud and saying he “should have ‘finished him.’”
• Jahvaris L. Reese, 39, and Ieasha L. White, 31, both of East St. Louis, were charged with financial institution robbery and attempted robbery after an attempted holdup at Commerce Bank in Shiloh in which they handed employees a note demanding money but left empty-handed.
• Jeremy R. Wallace, 39, was sentenced to 14 years in federal prison for transporting a 16-year-old girl across state lines to rape her at his Granite City home in April 2022, with his DNA found on vaginal swabs from the sexual assault evidence kit.
• Collinsville resident Kenneth Joseph Coombs, 58, pleaded guilty to a federal charge of engaging in illicit sexual conduct with a child in Nepal, after allegedly using force, involuntary intoxication and payments to abuse children during a 2016 trip while he was a registered sex offender in Missouri.

The summary points above were compiled with the help of AI tools and edited by journalists. The source reporting referenced above was written and edited entirely by journalists.