A grandmother, a young couple and their two young children were found killed in a home in the small town of Manchester, Illinois, according to police and relatives, as reported by the Chicago Tribune. The suspected gunman later died in an exchange of gunfire with police during a chase on Wednesday morning.
Neighbors identified the suspect as Rick Smith who lived in Roodhouse, about five miles from Manchester.
One of the victim's son-in-law Brad Teeter described the situation: "The guy broke into the house. I couldn't tell you about the guy, never met him, never seen him, never talked to him. He apparently broke into the home of my wife's mother and shot everybody inside. I'm at a loss right now," he said
The motive has yet to be defined, but a neighbor did say Smith had been going through a custody battle with the mother of their 4-year-old daughter.
"He was under a lot of stress... There [were] a lot of problems with custody with the daughter... I know there was a lot of friction with her family" the neighbor said.
The police were alerted at about 4:40 a.m. on Wednesday morning, and Smith was arrested around 7:30 after a brief car chase.
"From the time they spotted him to the time they spotted him to the time they stopped was probably ten minutes on the chase." He exchanged shots with police after his white Chevy Lumina had been pulled over, state police said.
He was pronounced dead at a hospital, after being wounded.
There are the first murders to hit Manchester in 43 years, neighbors recalled.
