PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — Autopsies on two men, killed during a spate of violence that saw eight people suffer gunshot wounds, were completed late Friday and indicate both were shot several times.
Peoria County Coroner Jamie Harwood said in a Facebook post that an autopsy Friday indicated Damar Watts was shot several times and likely died instantly. Then, a few minutes later, the same results were posted for 23-year-old Billy Chaplin.
The two men were the city’s 17th and 18th homicides of 2023.
Chaplin was killed shortly at about 9 a.m. when he and another person were shot in the 2100 block fo West Antoinette Street. He was rushed to the hospital where he died. Then, while police were investigating that, a call came in about a shooting in the 800 block of South Helen Street at about 10:05 a.m.
Watts, 19, of Peoria, was pronounced dead at the scene just before 11 a.m.
Police have been tight-lipped about the two homicides but they did say a press conference Thursday afternoon that they were linked. They declined, however, to say how or what led to the shootings.
Their deaths came after five people were shot Wednesday night in the 2200 block of West Marquette Street. Another person suffered a laceration and was also taken to the hospital.
In that earlier shooting, a man and a boy were listed in critical condition late Thursday. An attempt to update their medical conditions was not successful Friday.
