#US Army member charged in Illinois bowling alley shooting

A member of the US Army was charged Sunday in the deadly mass shooting at an Illinois bowling alley — a random attack that also left a 14-year-old boy fighting for his life after being shot in the face, according to officials.

Suspect Duke Webb, 37, of Florida faces three counts of murder and three counts of first-degree attempted murder in Saturday’s shooting in Rockford, said Winnebago County State’s Attorney J. Hanley.

Webb is an active member of the Army and is being held in the Winnebago County Jail without bond, the Rockford Register Star said.

“We believe this was a completely random act, and there is no prior meeting or any kind of relationship between the suspect and any of the victims in this case,” Police Chief Dan O’Shea said, according to the local paper.

The charges emerged as officials revealed that the three people who died in the attack in Shooters Bar, part of the Don Carter Lanes, were all men, ages 65, 69 and 73. None were identified yet.

A 14-year-old boy was also shot in the face and in critical condition after being airlifted to a hospital in Madison, O’Shea said at a news conference Sunday morning.

Another teen, a 16-year-old girl, was shot in the shoulder, while a 62-year-old man is in critical condition with multiple gunshot wounds, the chief said.

Both teenagers had been at the bar to pick up takeout food, the chief said.

Webb had attempted to hide his weapons when cops arrived but was taken into custody within minutes, O’Shea said.

Two handguns were recovered from the scene, he said.

“Most of the incident was captured on surveillance video from inside the business,” O’Shea said, according to the Register Star. “The investigators have the surveillance videos, and they’ll go through those.”

The mass shooting capped the deadliest year on record in Rockford, with 35 homicides in 2020, the paper said. Such crime stats go back to 1965, the paper said.

With Post Wires