4 people killed on Chicago-area L train likely didn't even see the shooter, official says

FOREST PARK, Ill. (AP) — A man suspected of killing four people aboard a Chicago-area transit train shot them at close range while they were asleep, officials said Tuesday.

The shooting took place before 5:30 a.m. Monday aboard the Chicago area’s L system, on a Blue Line train that was moving near where the line ends in Forest Park, a suburb about 10 miles (16 kilometers) west of downtown Chicago. Rhanni S. Davis, 30, was later arrested on another Chicago Transit Authority L line, according to police. Authorities charged Davis with four counts of first-degree murder Tuesday.

Forest Park Mayor Rory Hoskins said the victims likely didn't even see the shooter.

“They were shot execution-style as they slept," Hoskins told The Associated Press.

Margaret Miller, 64, and three men including Simeon Bihesi, 28, and Adrian Collins, 60, were fatally shot, according to the Cook County medical examiner's office. All of their addresses were listed as unknown. Police said they were still working to notify relatives of the fourth person killed, so his name has not yet been released.

Preliminary investigation shows the victims were on two different cars as the Blue Line train was headed toward Forest Park, police said. The Blue Line runs 24 hours and stretches from that suburb through downtown Chicago to O’Hare International Airport. It runs both below and above ground.

The suspected shooter fled. But police found and arrested Davis thanks to video footage from the train, Hoskins said.

Public records did not have a listed phone number for Davis. A message sent Tuesday to a listed email was not immediately returned. Forest Park police and the Cook County state's attorney's office did not immediately respond to messages about Davis' legal representation. The Cook County public defender's office said it wasn't representing him.

Davis is scheduled to appear in court at noon on Wednesday, according to Cook County State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, who spoke Tuesday evening during a media briefing in Forest Park. She called the shootings a “horrific, heinous and inexplicable act of violence” and said more details would come out during the court hearing.

Investigators haven't determined a motive, police said at the briefing.

CTA officials said they were assisting in the investigation and that security footage “proved to be vital.”

“Although this matter remains under investigation, all current information points this being an isolated incident,” CTA President Dorval Carter Jr. said in a statement.

Forest Park police are used to calls to the busy transit stops there, Hoskins said. The CTA’s Green Line also ends in Forest Park and runs nearly 24 hours a day.

Over the years, nonprofit organizations have also used the transportation hubs for outreach and providing medical care and other services to homeless people who seek refuge aboard the trains, particularly in winter.

But the mass shooting in the community of 14,000 people has sparked new fears. Hoskins, whose position as mayor is part time, said he couldn't recall a homicide being reported in Forest Park in years.

His teenage son takes the L to school and he watched a little closer than usual at Tuesday morning's drop off.

“People are rattled,” he said. “We want to make them feel safe.”

AP writer Lisa Baumann contributed to this report from Bellingham, Washington.

Forest Park Police Department Deputy Police Chief Christopher Chin speaks to reporters at the Forest Park Village Hall over the shooting death of four people on a Chicago-area transit Blue Line train yesterday morning, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, in Forest Park, Ill. (Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx speaks to reporters at the Forest Park Village Hall over the shooting death of four people on a Chicago-area transit Blue Line train yesterday morning, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, in Forest Park, Ill. (Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

Dorval Carter Jr. President of the Chicago Transit Authority speaks to reporters at the Forest Park Village Hall over the shooting death of four people on a Chicago-area transit Blue Line train yesterday morning, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, in Forest Park, Ill. (Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

Forest Park Mayor Rory Hoskins speaks to reporters at the Forest Park Village Hall over the shooting death of four people on a Chicago-area transit Blue Line train yesterday morning, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, in Forest Park, Ill. (Tyler Pasciak LaRiviere/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

A pedestrian waits on the Eastbound side of the Chicago Transit Authority Blue Line train station at the Harlem Ave., station as a train approaches Chicago, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, in Forest Park, Ill. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

A pedestrian talks on his cell phone as he arrives at the Chicago Transit Authority Blue Line Harlem Ave., train station Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, in Forest Park, Ill. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Traffic on the Eisenhower Expressway passes the Chicago Transit Authority Blue Line Harlem Ave., train station Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, in Forest Park, Ill. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

A security camera and speaker hang from the ceiling of the Chicago Transit Authority Harlem Ave. station as a Blue Line train approaches the station heading West to the Forest Park, Ill., station, as two pedestrians walk toward the station, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, in Forest Park, Ill. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

A cyclist enters a Chicago Transit Authority Blue Line train at the Forest Park., Ill., station headed East to Chicago, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, in Forest Park. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

A security camera and speaker hang from the ceiling of the Chicago Transit Authority Harlem Ave. station as a Blue Line train enters the station heading West to the Forest Park, Ill., station as two pedestrians walk toward the station, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, in Forest Park, Ill. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

A Chicago Transit Authority Blue Line train car rides empty as it approaches the Forest Park, Ill., station Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, in Forest Park. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

An emergency communication panel is seen on a Chicago Transit Authority Blue Line train Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, in Forest Park, Ill. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

A security camera and speaker hang from the ceiling of the Chicago Transit Authority Harlem Ave. station over the rails that head West to Forest Park, Ill., station as two pedestrians walk toward the station, Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, in Forest Park, Ill. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

A Chicago Transit Authority Blue Line train waits at the Forest Park, Ill., train station for the eastern journey to downtown Chicago on Tuesday, Sept. 3, 2024, in Forest Park, Ill. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast)

Yellow tape blocks off the parking lot of the Forest Park Blue Line train station in Forest Park, Ill., after four people were fatally shot on the train early Monday, Sept. 2, 2024. (Pat Nabong/Chicago Sun-Times via AP)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Facing a government shutdown deadline, the Senate rushed through final passage early Saturday of a bipartisan plan that would temporarily fund federal operations and disaster aid, dropping President-elect Donald Trump's demands for a debt limit increase into the new year.

House Speaker Mike Johnson had insisted Congress would “meet our obligations” and not allow federal operations to shutter ahead of the Christmas holiday season. But the day's outcome was uncertain after Trump doubled down on his insistence that a debt ceiling increase be included in any deal — if not, he said in an early morning post, let the closures “start now.”

The House approved Johnson's new bill overwhelmingly, 366-34. The Senate worked into the night to pass it, 85-11, just after the deadline. At midnight, the White House said it had ceased shutdown preparations.

“This is a good outcome for the country, ” Johnson said after the House vote, adding he had spoken with Trump and the president-elect “was certainly happy about this outcome, as well.”

President Joe Biden, who has played a less public role in the process throughout a turbulent week, was expected to sign the measure into law Saturday.

“There will be no government shutdown," Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer said.

The final product was the third attempt from Johnson, the beleaguered House speaker, to achieve one of the basic requirements of the federal government — keeping it open. And it raised stark questions about whether Johnson will be able to keep his job, in the face of angry GOP colleagues, and work alongside Trump and billionaire ally Elon Musk, who called the legislative plays from afar.

Trump's last-minute demand was almost an impossible ask, and Johnson had almost no choice but to work around his pressure for a debt ceiling increase. The speaker knew there wouldn’t be enough support within the GOP majority to pass any funding package, since many Republican deficit hawks prefer to slash the federal government and certainly wouldn’t allow more debt.

Instead, the Republicans, who will have full control of the White House, House and Senate next year, with big plans for tax cuts and other priorities, are showing they must routinely rely on Democrats for the votes needed to keep up with the routine operations of governing.

“So is this a Republican bill or a Democrat bill?” scoffed Musk on social media ahead of the vote.

The drastically slimmed-down 118-page package would fund the government at current levels through March 14 and add $100 billion in disaster aid and $10 billion in agricultural assistance to farmers.

Gone is Trump’s demand to lift the debt ceiling, which GOP leaders told lawmakers would be debated as part of their tax and border packages in the new year. Republicans made a so-called handshake agreement to raise the debt limit at that time while also cutting $2.5 trillion in spending over 10 years.

It’s essentially the same deal that flopped the night before in a spectacular setback — opposed by most Democrats and some of the most conservative Republicans — minus Trump’s debt ceiling demand.

But it's far smaller than the original bipartisan accord Johnson struck with Democratic and Republican leaders — a 1,500-page bill that Trump and Musk rejected, forcing him to start over. It was stuffed with a long list of other bills — including much-derided pay raises for lawmakers — but also other measures with broad bipartisan support that now have a tougher path to becoming law.

House Democrats were cool to the latest effort after Johnson reneged on the hard-fought bipartisan compromise.

Rep. Rosa DeLauro, the top Democrat on the Appropriations Committee, said it looked like Musk, the wealthiest man in the world, was calling the shots for Trump and Republicans.

“Who is in charge?” she asked during the debate.

Still, the House Democrats put up more votes than Republicans for the bill's passage. Almost three dozen conservative House Republicans voted against it.

“The House Democrats have successfully stopped extreme MAGA Republicans from shutting down the government, crashing the economy and hurting working-class Americans all across the nation,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said, referring to Trump's “Make America Great Again” slogan.

In the Senate, almost all the opposition came from the Republicans — except independent Sen. Bernie Sanders, who said Musk's interference was “not democracy, that's oligarchy.”

Trump, who has not yet been sworn into office, is showing the power but also the limits of his sway with Congress, as he intervenes and orchestrates affairs from Mar-a-Lago alongside Musk, who is heading up the new Department of Government Efficiency.

The incoming Trump administration vows to slash the federal budget and fire thousands of employees and is counting on Republicans for a big tax package. And Trump's not fearful of shutdowns the way lawmakers are, having sparked the longest government shutdown in history in his first term at the White House.

“If there is going to be a shutdown of government, let it begin now,” Trump posted early in the morning on social media.

More important for the president-elect was his demand for pushing the thorny debt ceiling debate off the table before he returns to the White House. The federal debt limit expires Jan. 1, and Trump doesn't want the first months of his new administration saddled with tough negotiations in Congress to lift the nation's borrowing capacity. Now Johnson will be on the hook to deliver.

“Congress must get rid of, or extend out to, perhaps, 2029, the ridiculous Debt Ceiling,” Trump posted — increasing his demand for a new five-year debt limit increase. "Without this, we should never make a deal."

Government workers had already been told to prepare for a federal shutdown that would send millions of employees — and members of the military — into the holiday season without paychecks.

Biden has been in discussions with Jeffries and Schumer, but White House press secretary Karine Jean-Pierre said: “Republicans blew up this deal. They did, and they need to fix this.”

As the day dragged on, Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell stepped in to remind colleagues “how harmful it is to shut the government down, and how foolish it is to bet your own side won’t take the blame for it.”

At one point, Johnson asked House Republicans at a lunchtime meeting for a show of hands as they tried to choose the path forward.

It wasn’t just the shutdown, but the speaker’s job on the line. The speaker’s election is the first vote of the new Congress, which convenes Jan. 3, and some Trump allies have floated Musk for speaker.

Johnson said he spoke to Musk ahead of the vote Friday and they talked about the “extraordinary challenges of this job.”

Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Stephen Groves, Mary Clare Jalonick, Darlene Superville and Bill Barrow contributed to this report.

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., celebrates as the Senate begins voting on the government funding bill just in time to meet the midnight deadline, at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., celebrates as the Senate begins voting on the government funding bill just in time to meet the midnight deadline, at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks to reporters after passing the funding bill to avert the government shutdown at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks to reporters after passing the funding bill to avert the government shutdown at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana)

The Capitol is pictured in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., emerges from a closed-door meeting with fellow Republicans at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., emerges from a closed-door meeting with fellow Republicans at the Capitol in Washington, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., talks with reporters after attending a meeting with Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., as the House works on a spending bill to avert a shutdown of the Federal Government, Friday, Dec. 20, 2024, at the Capitol in Washington. (AP Photo/John McDonnell)

FILE - President-elect Donald Trump poses for a photo with Dana White, Kid Rock and Elon Musk at UFC 309 at Madison Square Garden, Nov. 16, 2024, in New York. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci, File)

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks briefly to reporters just before a vote on an interim spending bill to prevent a government shutdown, at the Capitol in Washington, Thursday, Dec. 19, 2024. The vote failed to pass. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)

President-elect Donald Trump speaks during a news conference at Mar-a-Lago, Monday, Dec. 16, 2024, in Palm Beach, Fla. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)