Before Rhanni Davis allegedly went on a deadly Labor Day shooting rampage on a Blue Line train, the 30-year-old had been arrested repeatedly and had struggled to pay rent — all while continuously changing their name.
Flashpoints in Davis’ life are laid out in a tangled web of court documents, none of which offers any clear indication that Davis was capable of killing four Blue Line riders in cold blood, as Cook County prosecutors allege.
Davis, facing four counts of first-degree murder, is expected to appear for an initial court hearing Wednesday in suburban Maywood.
At a news conference at Forest Park Village Hall on Tuesday evening, investigators said they had no motive and offered no answers as to what may have sparked the deadly rampage.
Cook County State’s Atty. Kim Foxx said “right now we don’t have answers as to why anyone would engage in such a heinous, heinous act,” she said. “I think it is safe to say that this was a random attack.”
As investigators work to piece together a motive, the circumstances of the shooting — and Davis’ background — continue to come into focus.
“As this case plays out in court many of these questions will be answered,” Foxx said. “I fear, however, the question of why may never be answered because sometimes truly horrific, heinous acts have no answer.”
Sources said Davis fatally shot three Blue Line riders as they slept. A fourth person raised their hand in defense before being gunned down.
Police responded to the shooting about 5:30 a.m. Monday as the train pulled into the Forest Park station, 711 Des Plaines Ave. Officials said three victims were in one car and the fourth person was in another.
Two men and a woman were pronounced dead at the scene, and another man died at Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood. The Cook County medical examiner’s office has identified three of the victims as Margaret Miller, 64; Adrian Collins, 60; and Simeon Bihesi, 28.
Miller died of a gunshot wound to her head; Collins died of a gunshot wound to his abdomen; and Bihesi died of multiple gunshot wounds, according to autopsy results. The fourth victim has not been named. He is a 52-year-old man who died of multiple gunshot wounds.
‘He was a good child’
Bihesi had been unhoused since he moved to Chicago about a month ago, his father, Leonard Nyamusevya, told the Sun-Times on Tuesday.
Nyamusevya said his son grew up in Columbus, Ohio, with a brother and two sisters. Bihesi joined the Marines and served in Washington, D.C., for a few years. He moved to Chicago, where his mother lives, to seek treatment for an illness, his father said.
“He was a good child,” said Nyamusevya, who lives in Ohio and had tried to find housing for his son in Chicago.
He added that Bihesi had always wanted to serve the public, and his latest goal was to join the Columbus Police Department.
“I am very troubled right now,” Nyamusevya said. “The only thing I know: My son would not hurt anybody. He was very peaceful, and for some reason, some bad thing happened to him.”
The Chicago Coalition to End Homelessness in a statement said the mass shooting is part of a pattern of violence that people facing housing instability experience in Chicago. The coalition said the trains are seen as a safe shelter option that also provides a sense of community.
CTA boss questioned
When asked about the safety of people who sleep on trains CTA President Dorval Carter Jr. said that Monday’s attack doesn’t mean those who choose to sleep on trains should fear for their lives.
“This was a very random, isolated incident,” Carter said. “I can tell you in my career at CTA I can’t recall any sort of mass killing like this ever occurring, and so I don’t necessarily worry about homeless people being killed, but I do worry about homeless people being vulnerable.”
Carter added that the CTA offers assistance to the homeless.
Asked about crime on the CTA, Carter said the system carries more than a million people every day and “the vast majority of those people do not incur or are involved in” criminal incidents.
“The men and women of CTA are united in our commitment to make sure we’re doing everything in our power to protect you, our riders, as well as our employees,” Carter said, pointing to an upgraded network of security cameras, additional security guards and expansion of the agency’s volunteer policing program.
“This heinous crime has shaken our community, not just the residents of Forest Park but all who rely on CTA for transportation,” Carter said. “We pray for those who lost their lives, and offer our sincere condolences to their loved ones and all those affected by this terrible violence.”
The transit agency announced last week that it is one month into a year-long pilot program with ZeroEyes, a company that uses artificial intelligence to identify guns in surveillance video and alert police.
Forest Park police said they tracked Davis to the California Pink Line stop after working with CTA security to put together a description of the suspected shooter. Davis was arrested on the platform of the station, Forest Park Det. Lt. Daniel Pater said Tuesday.
A 9 mm Glock pistol was recovered, and ballistics matched the gun to the six shell casings found at the scene of the shootings, Pater said. A total of six shots were fired, he added.
When contacted Tuesday Davis’ aunt, who did not want to be named, expressed shock at the charges.
“I wouldn’t expect for [Davis] to do anything like that to anybody,” she said. “This is so f—– up.”
Encounters with law enforcement
Davis has been charged in at least six criminal cases in Cook County since November 2012 using various names: Rhanni Davis, Rhianni Davis and James McDavid. Davis has also used alternating gender identifiers and a variety of addresses, including one in Nashville.
Davis legally changed their name from James Wesley Dusuede McDavis III to Rhianni Ja’Nae Davis in March 2013. Then last October, Davis petitioned to change their name back. The case was dismissed after Davis failed to appear in court.
Davis has faced misdemeanor gun charges in two cases that were ultimately dismissed, court records show.
Davis was initially caught with a gun in the parking lot of a Blue Island Metra station in October 2019, records show. In February 2021, Davis was found with a gun and a bullet magazine in a traffic stop. At the time of that arrest, Davis had a license to own the gun but wasn’t permitted to carry it publicly.
Davis was most recently arrested in south suburban Riverdale in November 2022 on charges of illegally possessing a 2020 Ford Fusion that had been rented, court records show. Davis was charged with a misdemeanor count of criminal trespass to a vehicle. That charge was later dropped.
In August 2020, Davis was caught inside the now-shuttered Bloomingdale’s department store at 600 N. Wabash Ave. after it was breached during a wave of looting, court records show. Davis pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of disorderly conduct and was sentenced to a day in Cook County Jail.
Davis was previously sentenced to two years of court supervision after being charged with a misdemeanor count of battery in Chicago, court records show. Before that, Davis was charged with a misdemeanor retail theft charge after being arrested in Evanston in 2012.
In July 2021, Davis sought the court’s protection from a woman who was allegedly stalking and harassing Davis and members of Davis’ household. The case was dismissed in May 2022, when both parties failed to appear in court.
The next month, Davis’ landlord moved to evict Davis from an apartment complex on the Far South Side. At the time, Davis owed nearly $3,500 in past-due rent. The case was dismissed in August 2022 after a process server was unable to provide Davis with a court summons.
Contributing: Elvia Malagon, Mary Norkol and Dan Mihalopoulos