Murder charges have been filed against a suspect who was arrested hours after four passengers were found shot to death on two cars of a CTA Blue Line train in Forest Park early Monday.
Rhanni Davis, 30, was charged Tuesday with four counts of first-degree murder, according to law enforcement sources. The medical examiner’s office was continuing to work to identify the victims.
Police were alerted to the shooting around 5:30 a.m. Monday as a train pulled into the Forest Park Blue Line station at 711 Desplaines Ave. Two men and a woman died at the scene, and a fourth person, a 60-year-old man, was taken to Loyola University Medical Center in Maywood, where he later died, police said.
Officials said the four victims were in two different cars and appeared to be sleeping when gunfire erupted.
Forest Park police said they worked with CTA security to put together a description of the suspected shooter, and Chicago police arrested Davis on a Pink Line train. A handgun was recovered.
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 used a variety of addresses, including one in Nashville, Tenn.
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, according to court records.
Davis was initially caught with a gun in the parking lot of a Metra station in Blue Island in October 2019, records show. In February 2021, Davis was found with a gun and a bullet magazine following 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 Riverdale in November 2022 for illegally possessing a 2020 Ford Fusion that had been rented, court records show. The suspect was charged with a misdemeanor count of criminal trespass to a vehicle that was later dropped.
Months before that arrest — in August 2020 — Davis was caught inside of the now-shuttered Bloomindale’s department 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.
About 5:30 a.m. Labor Day, officers responded to the Forest Park Blue Line station at 711 Desplaines Ave. and found four people shot, Forest Park police said. Three people died at the scene; a fourth died at a hospital.
Rhanni Davis, 30, was charged Tuesday with four counts of first-degree murder, according to law enforcement sources. The medical examiner’s office continued to work to identify the victims.