EAST ST. LOUIS, Ill. — Editor's Note: Illinois State Police said Thursday an individual shown in home surveillance video near the scene is not considered to be connected to the investigation. They say they have developed a person of interest and are still working to identify that individual.
As the chairman of public safety and East St. Louis council member, the recent double shooting in East St. Louis troubles Ryan Cason.
"The police department is doing as much as they can and Illinois State Police is involved. We just don't know the motive yet, but we do know the police departments are investigating," Cason said.
What hurts even more though is Cason's connection to the case.
"One of the victims, Sanchez James, was a friend of mine, went to school together and I graduated with him. Just a good guy, always making you laugh, just a joy to be around," Cason shared.
Around 24 hours later, crime scene tape still wrapped around poles on the 500 block of South 14th Street Wednesday morning as the community wrapped their head around what happened.
5 On Your Side spoke with someone who lives in the area who captured home surveillance video of the crime and reviewed the entire video.
In the footage, a man is wearing a black hoodie and pants.
It shows the man fire into a parked car where the victim, 45-year-old Danielle Braddix, was in the driver's seat on the 500 block of South 14th Street.
Later video shows the same suspect return to the street and look back in the car with Braddix inside.
He then walked away toward the bus stop.
At some point in the same time frame, witnesses said the same suspect went down the street to a nearby home, where police later found Sanchez James dead from a gunshot wound on the 600 block of South 15th Street.
Illinois State Police said preliminary information indicates these two shootings to possibly be related.
The circumstances that led up to the incident have not been released, and neither has the relationship between the victims and the shooter.
Robert Easton III, former mayor and longtime East St. Louisan, knows the ripple effects of violence.
He wants change for his small community.
Easton said, "Why do we feel it's okay to pick up a gun and kill someone? You're not only impacting those two lives. You're impacting the entire community when you do things like that. I know we are a small community, we need to work together to solve this problem."
Anyone who witnessed the shootings or has any knowledge of the shootings is asked to contact the ISP by email at ISP.CrimeTips@Illinois.gov. Witnesses can remain anonymous.
