Two teenagers were arrested Sunday in connection with a “targeted mass shooting” that killed five members of the same family and wounded two others in East St. Louis, Illinois, according to state police.

The shooting was the latest in a series of family annihilations in the United States, a category of mass murder that has occurred across the country every five days on average, according to a July 2023 Indianapolis Star investigation.

The 15- and 16-year-old suspects were taken into custody at Holten State Park, a recreation area east of the city, Illinois State Police Director Brendan Kelly said at a Sunday news conference. Formal charges had not been filed as of Sunday evening, Kelly said.

“These alleged acts of horrific violence, taking this number of lives, here in this community, it’s terrible, it’s evil, but it will not keep this city down,” Kelly said. He described the shootings as a “targeted mass shooting” and declined to comment on how the teenagers may have obtained guns. Illinois has some of the strictest state-level gun laws in the U.S.

State police identified the slain family members as Cherie L May, 49; Devin D May, 24; Patricia A May, 74; Quentin L Thompson, 21; and Shania W Thompson, 25. Two other victims were taken to a hospital in the neighboring city of St. Louis, Missouri. Kelly said the shootings unfolded at three locations around East St. Louis and remained under investigation. No bystanders were injured.

Kelly said at least one of the suspects is related to at least one of the victims. The killings fit the definition of a family annihilation, a type of mass murder more common in the U.S. than often recognized. The Indianapolis Star investigation published in July 2023 found that family annihilations occur across the country every five days on average.

The East St. Louis shooting was the 12th mass murder reported in the U.S. so far in 2026, according to the nonpartisan Gun Violence Archive. At least seven of those fit the definition of a family annihilation. As of Monday, the archive had recorded more than 240 mass shootings — defined as incidents in which four or more victims are wounded or killed — across the U.S. this year.

East St. Louis sits on the border with Missouri, which has far fewer gun restrictions. Missouri does not require permits to buy or carry firearms, has no licensing system, and does not regulate the transfer or storage of private firearms. The state also does not criminalize minors possessing handguns, shotguns, or rifles, though it is illegal to sell such firearms to them without parental consent.