1 dead, 3 wounded in shootings along same Illinois freeway

OAK FOREST, Ill. — A longtime postal worker was fatally shot while driving in suburban Chicago several hours after a separate shooting along the same freeway wounded a man and two boys, authorities said Tuesday.

Illinois State Police declined to say whether investigators believe the two Monday shootings are linked. Trooper Woodrow Montgomery, a spokesman for the agency, said Tuesday that officers “have come to no conclusions.”

Police said the 55-year-old woman was alone in a car when she was shot around 10 p.m. Monday on northbound Interstate 57 near Oak Forest, just south of Chicago. She was pronounced dead at the scene.

About six hours earlier, a 38-year-old man was critically wounded in a shooting along the same interstate a few miles away, near Calumet Park. A 12-year-old boy and a 15-year-old boy also were shot and wounded, but were hospitalized in stable condition. An 8-year-old girl in the vehicle wasn’t shot but was also taken to a hospital, according to police.

Police have not released any of the victims’ names, but the U.S. Postal Service identified the woman who was killed as Tamara Clayton-Shelton. Postal Service spokesman Tim Norman said Clayton-Shelton was scheduled to work a shift Monday night and was likely on her way to work when she was shot.

The Postal Service said Clayton-Shelton had been employed with the agency since 1993. She was a mail handler at the Chicago International Military Service Center facility.

“The Postal Service is deeply saddened on hearing of this tragedy and share our thoughts and prayers with the family,” the agency said in a statement Tuesday.