37-year-old active military member charged with shooting at Don Carter Lanes

ROCKFORD, Ill. (WIFR) - A man faces murder charges and attempted murder charges after being arrested following the shooting at Don Carter Lanes on Saturday night.

“The suspect that was taken into custody has been identified as 37-year-old Duke Webb,” Rockford Police Chief Dan O’Shea said.

At a press conference Sunday morning, O’Shea, Winnebago County State’s Attorney J. Hanley, Winnebago County Sheriff Gary Caruana, and Rockford Mayor Tom McNamara announced that 37-year-old Duke Webb, a resident of Florida and active military member is currently being held in the Winnebago County Jail without bond.

He is charged with three counts of first-degree murder and three counts of attempted murder. Webb is scheduled to make his first court appearance at 1:30 p.m. Monday. This comes on the heels of a shooting that took place at Don Carter Lanes Saturday night when Rockford Police responded to a shots fired call just before 7 p.m.

“We believe this is a completely random act and there is no prior meeting or any kind of relationship between the suspect and any of the victims,” O’Shea said.

Upon arrival, officers located the suspect without any officers having to fire weapons. The suspect attempted to obscure his ID and weapon when officers arrived. O’Shea says there is surveillance video that caught the incident at Don Carter Lanes and 20-25 people were in the building prior to the incident.

Officials say there are six victims in total. A 73-year-old male, a 65-year old male, and a 69-year-old male were killed in the shooting. The other three victims went to the hospital.

“A 14-year-old male who was shot in the face he was subsequently airlifted to madison and is in current stable condition,” O’Shea said. “A 16-year-old female was shot in the shoulder she has been treated and released from a local hospital. A 62-year-old male received multiple gunshot wounds and the last update we have from the hospital is he was in surgery overnight and in critical condition.”

The two teens were at the establishment to pick up food for carry-out, according to O’Shea.

Rockford Mayor Tom McNamara gave an emotional statement at the morning press conference, calling for the violence to stop.

“Today with the eyes of the country on us we need to show as Rockfordians how we respond to an incident such as this,” McNamara said. “This isn’t going to be solved simply with enforcement with more officers we’re going to certainly need to have a strong police department but this is also going to be solved as a community.”

In terms of COVID-19 mitigations, officials say Don Carter Lanes and the bar downstairs were closed at the time in compliance with COVID-19 mitigation orders. The upstairs bar, with an outdoor balcony and double garage doors, was open and in compliance with current orders.

A vigil is scheduled to be held at Don Carter Lanes at 2 p.m. Tuesday.

The shooting comes on the heels of what’s been the deadliest year on record in Rockford’s history. Saturday’s killings marked 35 homicides in the city for 2020, the most on record dating back to 1965. The next highest had been 31 recorded in 1996.

There was also a 21 percent increase in violent crimes and 49 percent more shots fired through November this year, according to the latest police data released Thursday.

WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT BELOW.

One eyewitness at the scene captured the shooting at Don Carter Lanes on video.

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