Shooting leaves multiple people wounded in East St. Louis, Illinois

[September 10, 2021]  (Reuters) -A shooting on Thursday in East St. Louis, Illinois, has left multiple people wounded, and authorities have mounted a manhunt for suspects who crashed a getaway car into a commuter train, according to the mayor and law enforcement cited by local media.

No fatalities were reported, and few official details were immediately available to Reuters about the violence, which unfolded at about 4 p.m. local time.

But station KMOV-TV, a local CBS affiliate, cited police as saying three suspects opened fire before trying to drive past a train at a nearby railroad crossing, where the getaway vehicle was struck by the train.

Police were searching for the suspects in an adjacent wooded area, KMOV reported.

East St. Louis Mayor Robert Eastern III, speaking to Reuters from the scene, confirmed multiple victims were shot but provided no further details.

"We will have more information soon. But right now, our thoughts and prayers are going out to the victims and their families," he said.

The CBS affiliate, citing MetroLink officials, said about 10 passengers from the train were being checked on the scene for possible injuries. KMOV said multiple people were wounded in the shooting, but the number of victims and their conditions was not reported.

Another local news station, Fox affiliate KTVI, cited unnamed officials in reporting that three people were wounded in the shooting, which it said unfolded near a meat market in East St. Louis. It said police were searching for as many as six suspects.

East St. Louis, a city of about 25,000 residents in the southwestern corner of Illinois, across the Mississippi River from downtown St. Louis, Missouri, has long had a reputation for crime and poverty.

A 2019 analysis of FBI crime data by Security.org found that East St. Louis had the highest per-capita murder rate for U.S. cities of more than 10,000 residents, and ranked fourth in terms of all violent crime.

(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien in Chicago, Dan Whitcomb and Tim Reid in Los Angeles and Rich McKay in Atlanta; Writing and additional reporting by Steve Gorman in Los Angeles; Editing by Chris Reese and Sandra Maler)

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