East St. Louis Family Homicides: Five Killed, Two Teens Charged

Between July 5 and July 12, 2026, five members of one East St. Louis, Illinois, family were shot dead and two more were wounded at three locations across the city. On July 12 Illinois State Police arrested two teenagers: Ja’ymier Davis, 16, who is charged as an adult with five counts of first degree murder and seven other felonies, and a 15 year old girl, a relative of every victim, who is charged with first degree murder in juvenile court. Prosecutors have asked that her case be moved to adult court. Neither has been convicted, and both are presumed innocent.

Status as of October 16, 2026

Davis was ordered held until trial on July 15, 2026, and his case was referred to a grand jury. On Wednesday, August 12, the girl appeared in juvenile court, where a judge ordered her evaluated by a doctor before the hearing that will decide whether she is tried as an adult. That hearing was closed to the public. We found no public report of an indictment, a transfer ruling, a trial date, a plea or a verdict for either defendant after mid August.

Spellings of the male defendant’s first name differ. The Illinois State Police release gives Ja’ymier Davis. The Belleville News-Democrat and KMOV give Ja’ymeir, and the News-Democrat gives a middle initial, M.

The Victims

All seven people shot were related to the 15 year old girl. The Illinois State Police named the dead as:

• Patricia A. May, 74, her grandmother.
• Cherie L. May, 49, her aunt.
• Devin May, 24, her cousin.
• Shania W. Thompson, 25, her sister.
• Quentin L. Thompson, 21, her brother.

Her mother, Tiffany Thompson, was shot in the neck, and her cousin Santosha Scott was shot in the back. Both survived. According to the News-Democrat, two GoFundMe accounts were set up to cover funeral costs and counseling for surviving relatives.

July 12: The First Body

The state police investigation began on July 12, 2026, when the East St. Louis Police Department asked for help from the agency’s Zone 6 Public Safety Enforcement Group after human remains were found at the Samuel Gompers Homes, a public housing complex. The remains were identified as Cherie May’s. The News-Democrat reported that officers found them behind a building at the complex. The charging documents say she was killed between July 5 and July 7, days before anyone else was shot.

Within hours, investigators found the other four dead at several locations in the city and learned that two more people had been taken to local hospitals with gunshot wounds.

Where Each Victim Was Found

According to information presented in court, law enforcement statements and the charging documents, as compiled by the News-Democrat:

• Cherie May was shot between July 5 and July 7. Her remains were found at the Samuel Gompers Homes.
• Patricia and Devin May were shot between July 11 and July 12. They were also found at the Gompers Homes.
• Shania Thompson, Quentin Thompson, Tiffany Thompson and Santosha Scott were shot on or about July 12.
• Shania Thompson was found in an alley at 39th Street and Summit Avenue.
• Quentin Thompson was found at Jones Park, where Tiffany Thompson and Santosha Scott were also shot.

Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly said the shootings were investigated as a “targeted mass shooting” because they were related.

The Arrests at Frank Holten State Park

The two teenagers were arrested on July 12 at Frank Holten State Park. At Davis’s detention hearing, Assistant State’s Attorney Daniel Lewis said officers found a human finger in the car the pair were driving. When police asked whose it was, he said, the girl replied: “My grandma’s. She’s dead.”

The Charges

On July 14, state police agents presented the case to St. Clair County State’s Attorney James Gomric, who approved twelve counts against Davis:

• Five counts of first degree murder, Class M felonies.
• Two counts of attempted first degree murder, Class M felonies, for the shootings of Tiffany Thompson and Santosha Scott.
• Two counts of aggravated battery with a firearm, Class X felonies, for the same shootings.
• One count of aggravated vehicular hijacking, a Class X felony, alleging he took a 2015 white Chevrolet Traverse by force. The News-Democrat reported that the SUV was Santosha Scott’s and that the charge alleges he shot her in the back while taking it.
• One count of dismembering a human body, alleging he cut off Patricia May’s right thumb after her death.
• One count of unlawful use of a stolen firearm, a Class 2 felony, alleging he used a stolen 9mm pistol during a first degree murder.

KMOV’s account of the complaint gave the name in the thumb allegation as “Latricia May.” The state police release and every other account name the victim Patricia May, so we treat that as an error.

Why One Teen Is in Adult Court and One Is Not

The State’s Attorney’s office said Davis was charged in adult court automatically. Under the excluded jurisdiction provision of the Illinois Juvenile Court Act, first degree murder cases are removed from juvenile court when the defendant was 16 or older at the time of the offense.

The girl does not meet that age requirement, so she was charged in a juvenile delinquency petition that includes first degree murder. The office said it is barred from identifying her, and we do not name her. Prosecutors have petitioned to transfer her case to adult court. The News-Democrat explained that at a transfer hearing, a judge hears arguments on whether a minor’s case should stay in juvenile court or move to adult criminal court.

The Detention Hearing, July 15

On Wednesday, July 15, Davis appeared before St. Clair County Associate Judge Sara Rice in Belleville. Lewis asked that he be held until trial. “If he gets out there’s every indication that he will finish what he started,” he said, arguing there was “no combination of conditions to mitigate” the danger.

Lewis laid out several allegations:

• The gun. Shell casings from the shootings were traced to a gun that Tiffany Thompson had reported missing to East St. Louis police on July 7, telling them she believed her daughter had taken it. Davis, Lewis said, told investigators the girl had given him the gun. East St. Louis police told the News-Democrat that they had entered the gun in a national database so it would show up as stolen if recovered. Lamarian Smiley, Santosha Scott’s husband, told the paper that Tiffany Thompson kept the gun in a locked box.
• The messages. Lewis read social media messages he said were between the two. In one, the girl wrote: “We abt to kill my family.” In another: “Babe, I’m finna lose my whole family for you.” He said they discussed moving Cherie May’s body and killing other relatives. When the girl asked Davis whether he would do it for her, Lewis said, Davis answered yes.
• The thumb. Lewis alleged Patricia May’s thumb was cut off to unlock an iPhone, but he did not say what the pair wanted from the phone.
• Motive. Lewis did not state a motive for all of the shootings, but said Davis mentioned money to investigators when discussing Patricia May.

Davis’s lawyer, part time public defender Patrick Sullivan, presented no evidence or witnesses but said the defense “vehemently disagreed” with the facts. He said members of the girl’s family had pointed guns at Davis, and asked that if Davis were held, he be placed in protective custody. “This is not a case where he is the hunter, he is the hunted,” Sullivan said. “The truth will come out.”

Judge Rice called the allegations a “horrifying sequence of events” that showed disregard for human life. She ordered Davis held. Spectrum News reported that she remanded him to the St. Clair County Juvenile Detention Center pending further proceedings and referred the case to a grand jury.

The City

East St. Louis sits in St. Clair County, across the Mississippi River from downtown St. Louis, Missouri. According to Wikipedia, its population peaked at 82,366 in 1950, when it was Illinois’s fourth largest city. By the 2020 census it had 18,469 residents, less than a quarter of that peak and almost a third fewer than in 2010.

The city has long had one of the highest violent crime rates in the country. Wikipedia, citing a 2007 study in the journal Homicide Studies, says East St. Louis “has consistently experienced a high violent crime rate,” and that in 2013 its per capita homicide rate was about 18 times the national average. FBI Uniform Crime Reports recorded 19 murders and non negligent manslaughters there in 2015. Those are the figures against which Master Sgt. Dye described the recent decline in shootings.

The case is unusual even there. It was not a single shooting but a series over a week, all aimed at one family, with the youngest member of that family among the accused. The charges also fall under a juvenile justice framework that treats 15 and 16 year olds very differently, which is why the two accused teenagers are in different courts.

The Family

Marcus May, who told reporters he is related to three of the victims and is the girl’s father, said his daughter had been dating Davis. “She chose to do this… I can’t show her no sympathy… I can’t say I hope she get it light,” he told KMOV.

After the hearing, community leaders, city officials and state and local police gathered at East St. Louis City Hall to point residents to support services, including the 988 suicide and crisis line. Illinois State Police Master Sgt. Calvin Dye Jr. told Spectrum News that, despite the case, crime in the city had fallen under a partnership between the city police and the state police since 2019. He said there were just under 209 non fatal shootings in 2019 and fewer than 50 in 2025.

August 12: The Evaluation Order

On Wednesday, August 12, the girl appeared in juvenile court, and the judge ordered her evaluated by a doctor ahead of the transfer hearing. She agreed to remain detained. Her mother and father were summoned to court with her but were not asked to speak. About a dozen people came to the courthouse with the parents, but the hearing was closed to the public.

She is represented by public defender Greg Nester, and the case is prosecuted by First Assistant State’s Attorney Daniel Lewis. Both are barred from discussing it, including what kind of evaluation was ordered and why. St. Clair County Chief Public Defender Cathy MacElroy said her office routinely seeks psychological evaluations before transfer hearings. “A minor’s mental status would be relevant for the transfer hearing,” she said.

Timeline

• July 5 to 7, 2026: Cherie May is killed, according to the charging documents.
• July 7: Tiffany Thompson reports her gun missing and tells police she believes her daughter took it.
• July 11 to 12: Patricia May and Devin May are killed.
• July 12: Shania and Quentin Thompson are killed, and Tiffany Thompson and Santosha Scott are wounded. Cherie May’s remains are found, the state police are called in, and the two teens are arrested at Frank Holten State Park.
• July 14: The State’s Attorney approves 12 counts against Davis. A juvenile petition is filed against the girl.
• July 15: Judge Sara Rice orders Davis held and refers the case to a grand jury.
• August 12: The girl is ordered evaluated before her transfer hearing.

Legal Status

Ja’ymier Davis, 16, is charged in St. Clair County Circuit Court, as an adult, with five counts of first degree murder, two counts of attempted first degree murder, two counts of aggravated battery, and one count each of aggravated vehicular hijacking, dismembering a human body and unlawful use of a stolen firearm. He has been ordered detained pending trial. The 15 year old girl is charged with first degree murder and other offenses in juvenile court, and a ruling on the prosecution’s request to transfer her case to adult court was pending as of the latest report we found, from August 14, 2026. Neither has entered a reported plea or been convicted, and both are presumed innocent.

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