On 11-01-19, at approximately 2:44 a.m., the City of Carbondale Police Department responded to a gunshot victim at 1225 W. Freeman Street. Within three minutes of receiving the call, officers arrived and found a victim located in the west stairway of the apartment building who had been shot. The Jackson County Ambulance Service immediately transported the victim to Memorial Hospital of Carbondale where he was pronounced deceased. The victim is Xequan Campbell, 16 years of age from Zeigler, Illinois. Prior to the shooting, witnesses in an apartment at the address where the shooting took place, observed several people walking in the direction of the same apartment building. One of the individuals approaching the apartment was the victim. One of the individuals was also carrying a gun. An occupant of the apartment fired shots at the apartment door from the inside after the victim banged on the door and may have tried to open the door without identifying himself.
Detectives determined that the victim is related to one of the occupants in the apartment and the victim may have been responding to a call from his relative about an incident involving a gun which had occurred at the apartment several hours earlier. The victim’s relative and others in the apartment took cover just before the shooting in an adjoining room after seeing the people walking toward their apartment with a gun. Officers arrested those responsible for the shooting and took them into custody. These same individuals were released from custody at the direction of the Jackson County State’s Attorney pending a review by his office. This case remains active and under investigation.