Suspects arrested after shooting in Illinois leaves 7 wounded; victim crashed car into train, police say

Corrections & Clarifications: This story has been updated to reflect that a shooting victim crashed a car into a commuter train, according to updated information from police.

Police in East St. Louis, Illinois, have arrested three suspects who they say wounded seven people in a shooting, including a man who crashed his car into a commuter train after he was injured.

The shooting happened at about 4 p.m. Thursday in the city's downtown area, near 6th Street and Martin Luther King Drive, Illinois State Police said in a statement. Six people were hit with bullets and another person, a 3-year-old juvenile, was also injured.

The suspects were arrested Friday morning at about 2:30 a.m. after they fled to a nearby wooded area.

Police said Lorenzo W. Bruce Jr., a 32-year-old from Madison, Illinois; Cartez R. Beard, a 30-year-old from Cahokia, Illinois; and Deangelo M. Higgs, a 35-year-old from East St. Louis, Illinois, were charged with felony weapons counts and felony aggravated battery counts.

According to KMOV-4, about 10 train passengers were treated for injuries on the scene.

Stephen Pierce told the station he was waiting for a bus with his wife and two children when he heard “boom, boom, boom.” He said his wife was wounded in the arm.

“Our backs were turned and the next thing you know they just started shooting and it came at the back of my head and I didn’t know what to do but to get up and run,” Pierce told the TV station.

East St. Louis is located about 6 miles east of St. Louis, Missouri.

Contributing: Christal Hayes, USA TODAY; The Associated Press