An Iowa man has been charged with opening fire inside a River North hotel and apartment complex leaving one woman dead inside a room and another wounded in the building lobby.
Demetris Shorter, 35, turned himself in to police Friday evening and was charged with one count of first-degree murder and one count of attempted first-degree murder, according to Chicago police.
Shorter appeared before a Cook County judge Saturday and was ordered to be detained pending trial.
On Feb. 21, Shorter, of Davenport, Iowa, checked into the Level Hotel at 369 W. Grand Ave., according to Cook County prosecutors. He provided a photo ID and credit card to the front desk, prosecutors said.
The next night, just after 8 p.m., a person staying in the room next to Shorter’s reporting hearing gunshots, according to prosecutors.
About 10 minutes later, Shorter approached the reception desk and asked for a new key to his room, according to prosecutors. His request was denied because he didn’t have identification, according to a Chicago police report.
Shorter then went to an SUV, returned to the lobby and shot and wounded a woman who was approaching the reception desk, according to prosecutors and police. Two hotel employees witnessed the shooting, which was also captured on surveillance video, prosecutors said.
The woman, 29, was transported to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in good condition, police said.
Shorter allegedly fled the scene in an SUV, according to police.
Responding officers searched his room on the 30th floor and found another woman, 32 “alive but bleeding from multiple gunshot wounds,” prosecutors said. She was taken to Northwestern where she was pronounced dead. She was also from the Quad Cities area, according to prosecutors.
Two 9mm shell casings were recovered from the room and another was recovered from a stairwell, prosecutors said.
Officers located an SUV Shorter had rented the following afternoon and found a 9mm handgun and additional shell casings, according to prosecutors.
Shorter has a pending aggravated unlawful use of a weapons case out of Rock Island County.
He is scheduled to appear for a status hearing Tuesday morning.