MORRIS, Ill. (WLS) — The woman killed in a shooting in Morris, Illinois Thursday has been identified, and a teenager has been charged in her murder.
The Grundy County Coroner’s Office said Friday morning that Beverly A. Lambert, 25, of Shorewood died in the incident.
Lambert was taken to Morris Hospital after the shooting, where she was pronounced dead at 6:55 p.m., the coroner’s office said.
An autopsy is scheduled for Friday.
A 16-year-old boy has been charged with first-degree murder in connection with the incident, Morris officials said Friday.
He is currently being held at River Valley Detention Center in Joliet.
Police responded to the 500-block of Twilight Drive and asked people in the area to shelter in place while they searched for the gunman about 5:30 p.m. Thursday.
“A police officer kind of waved to us and he said, ‘Just stay there, and came down and said, We have an active shooter. Just remain inside,'” said Mike Ryerson, who lives nearby. “There has been an uptick in violent incidents lately which has always been very unusual for Morris.”
Police were able to track down the suspect from license plate reader technology that was installed at the entrance and exit of the community just one month ago.
Using flock camera technology, officers were able to track the suspect leaving the scene of the shooting at an apartment complex off Twilight Drive around 4:30 p.m. and entering another nearby community.
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“And then was being tracked through several cameras, catching him at intersections and they were able to close in,” said Stan Knudson, with the city of Morris.
A man was taken into custody; police have not provided any additional information on the suspect
Several agencies assisted, officials said.
Neighbors are saying how rare it is for something like this to happen here.
“It surprised me that it happened. I mean, I grew up in Chicago, and on the South Side of Chicago, that was nothing. But here, this is a very nice area,” said Paul Wagner, who also lived nearby.
It’s unclear if the victim and suspect had any relationship, but police said there is no longer any threat to the public and the investigation is ongoing.
The video in the player above is from an earlier report.
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