4th victim dies after gunman’s attacks in Chicago, suburbs

Authorities say a 61-year-old woman became the fourth person to die from a series of shootings this month by a Chicago gunman who was later killed in a police shootout

CHICAGO — A 61-year-old woman became the fourth person to die from a series of shootings this month by a Chicago gunman who was later killed in a suburban police shootout, authorities said Sunday.

Marta Torres, an Evanston woman who had been in critical condition for a week after being shot at an IHOP, died Saturday at a hospital, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office. Her autopsy was scheduled for Sunday.

According to police, 32-year-old Jason Nightengale, of Chicago, shot seven people in a series of attacks Jan. 9 over a roughly four-hour period. Most of the attacks happened on Chicago’s South Side before Nightengale drove to Evanston, just north of the city, where he shot Torres before officers killed him during a shootout. The victims ranged in age from 15 to 81 years old.

Authorities have not released a motive in the killings, which they described as random. Nightengale posted numerous disturbing and nonsensical short videos on Facebook before the killings. In one one he brandished a gun; in another he threatened to “blow up the whole community.”

The other three people who were killed were Yiran Fan, a 30-year-old University of Chicago student from China, 20-year-old Anthony Faulkner and 46-year-old security guard Aisha Nevell.

Updated conditions on the three others injured, a 15-year-old girl, 77-year-old woman and 81-year-old woman, were not immediately available.

Tiffany McNeal, the mother of the 15-year-old girl, Damia Smith, told The Chicago Tribune last week that her daughter was fighting for her life at a children’s hospital.

“She’s holding on,” McNeal said. “They’re just saying it’s not looking good. But I’m believing. I’m believing in God.”

Nightenagle, a father of twin girls, listed work over the years as a janitor, security guard and forklift operator, according to his LinkedIn page.

“He was fighting some demons,” a relative, Annette Nightengale, told The Chicago Sun-Times. “He had some problems.”