Several questions remained unanswered Monday after a U.S. Army special forces sergeant allegedly opened fire at a Rockford bowling alley Saturday, killing three and injuring three others in what authorities called an apparent random shooting.
Duke Webb, 37, faces three counts of murder and three counts of first-degree attempted murder for the shooting at Don Carter Lanes.
Aaliyha Estrada, 16, who was picking up food at the bowling alley with her friend, Printess Wynn, 14, said the suspect started shooting "out of nowhere."
"He hit my friend, and they started screaming, so that’s when we all got up and started running," she recounted.
Estrada said she immediately hid behind boxes, but was spotted by the shooter when the teen got up to see if she could run outside.
"...The shooter, he saw me and that’s when he shot me," the 16-year-old stated. "I just laid there and tried to stay still because I knew if he saw me moving he would shoot me again."
Estrada sustained a gunshot wound and was released from the hospital a few hours after the shooting. Her friend, Wynn, sustained a gunshot wound to the face and was airlifted to a Madison, Wisconsin, hospital.
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"Everyone is still in shock," Lavonda Wynn, the 14-year-old's sister told NBC 5 Monday.
Webb was taken into custody shortly after the shooting, Rockford Police Chief Dan O’Shea said. The suspect has no known ties to the victims and authorities “believe this was a completely random act,” O’Shea said.
A criminal complaint released Monday says Webb admitted to the shootings shortly after officers arrived on the scene, even showing officers where he'd placed two guns he had brought with him — a Glock .40 caliber and a Glock .389 caliber.
The bowling alley was closed when the shooting happened, in accordance with restrictions imposed to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, O’Shea said. But a bar upstairs was open. The chief said the upstairs venue has double doors that open to the outside, ensuring the bar is in compliance with Illinois’ COVID-19 mitigation guidance.
Estrada, the 16-year-old who was injured, questions why the suspect, according to police, opened fire.
"Why would he do that?" she said.
