Illinois state Sen. Meg Loughran Cappel (D) said shots were fired at her home in Shorewood, Ill., on Tuesday morning.
Cappel, who said she and her family are safe, called the incident "deeply troubling" in a Wednesday post on Facebook. The senator also thanked Shorewood Chief of Police Phillip Arnold, law enforcement and investigators for detaining a suspect and "working diligently to get to the bottom of this."
"I'm thankful that no one was hurt," Cappel added. "At times like these, I am reminded of how precious peace and safety are in our communities. Violence is never the answer." Later Wednesday, Cappel provided an update on Facebook, saying that law enforcement "determined that this was not politically motivated."
In a Tuesday Facebook post, the Shorewood Police Department said it received a call at 6:50 a.m. local time regarding gunshots fired at a home. Officers on the scene "observed a residence struck three times from what appeared to be a small caliber firearm." The police department said it then received a call from another resident regarding gunshots outside their home, with the owners discovering exterior damage from a single gunshot hours later.
"Based on evidence obtained from both residences, and with the assistance of our local, state, and federal law enforcement officials, the firearm used appears to be consistent in both incidents, pending confirmation by lab analysis," the department said.
Later Tuesday, Shorewood police said that "thanks to the help of many neighbors sharing their videos with us, our officers and detectives were able to identify the vehicle and suspect involved in this morning's shootings," and the suspect had been taken into custody.
Cappel was elected to the Illinois Senate in 2020. She represents the state's 49th District, located near Chicago.
"I am grateful that Senator Loughran-Cappel and her family are safe. She has the full support of Senate Democrats as the police continue their investigation," Illinois Senate President Don Harmon (D) told The Hill, via a spokesperson.
The Hill has reached out to the offices of Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker (D) and Illinois Senate President Don Harmon (D) for comment on the incident. Pritzker told reporters Monday that threats to his office have increased since the fatal shooting of Charlie Kirk last week.
This comes as members of Congress express concern for their security in the wake of Kirk's murder. On Monday, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said that the rollout of the continuing resolution (CR) to fund the government is delayed due to ongoing talks to boost funding for member security.
The incident also comes about three months after former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman and her husband, Mark, were shot and killed at their home in Brooklyn Park, Minn. Vance Boelter, the man accused of murdering the Hortmans, along with shooting state Sen. John Hoffman and his wife, Yvette
both of whom survived
pleaded not guilty to federal murder charges last month.
Updated at 4:18 p.m. EDT
A lot of people are slurping up the "Democrats are trying to kill us" rhetoric, and clearly a lot of them are taking it seriously, to the point of actually shooting at democrats now.
This is your reward for all your appeals to civility, libs. A spray of fucking gunfire.
They were shooting at Democrats before. Weren't two Minnesota state law makers shot in their home extremely recently?
That's partially why this makes me so insane. They're acting like this is the first political violence that's ever happened in this country. Violence is already happening, it was just always going one way before. They're just flipping their lid because it was a chud shot for once, and they can't believe it. I wonder how many libs this whole fiasco will jokerfy.
Its like watching Israel go insane every time a single soldier loses their life or a hostage is taken, when they kill Palestinians by the thousands.
History begins yesterday for reactionaries
To be fair that’s most Americans, who are reactionaries, so yea I have no point to make.