Illinois legislator's house shot at, suspect arrested

An Illinois state legislator's house was shot at, and the suspect was arrested this week.

Illinois state Sen. Meg Loughran Cappel (D) posted on Facebook on Wednesday, "In the early hours of Tuesday morning, my family and I experienced a deeply troubling incident when a shot was fired directly at our home. I am grateful to [Shorewood Chief of Police Phillip] Arnold, law enforcement and investigators for their work detaining a suspect and working diligently to get to the bottom of this.

"My family and I are safe and I’m thankful that no one was hurt," she continued. "We are fully cooperating with law enforcement as they continue their investigation. At times like these, I am reminded of how precious peace and safety are in our communities. Violence is never the answer."

Cappel was elected to the Illinois state Senate in 2020, and represents the 49th District, near Chicago, The Hill news outlet reported.

According to the Shorewood Police Department on Tuesday, two homes were shot at early that morning. The police received a call at 6:50 a.m. local time regarding a house "being damaged by gunshots," and found that the residence was "struck three times from what appeared to be a small caliber firearm. The residents inside the home were uninjured," according to the police department's Facebook account.

While police were processing the scene and canvassing the neighborhood, the department received another call from a resident who said that another occupant of their house "had heard a loud noise" before 5 a.m. The house's owner discovered hours later that a gunshot had damaged the home.

"Based on evidence obtained from both residences, and with the assistance of our local, state, and federal law enforcement officials, the firearm used appears to be consistent in both incidents, pending confirmation by lab analysis. It should be noted that the owners of the two residences are not known to each other, and have no common affiliations," police posted on Facebook.

In an update later on Tuesday, the police wrote, "Thanks to the help of many neighbors sharing their videos with us, our officers and detectives were able to identify the vehicle and suspect involved in this morning's shootings. We are happy to report that the suspect has been taken into custody. We will release more information when it is available, but for now residents can be assured that there is no further threat from this person."