Rockford mourns, honors those killed in attack
By Kevin Haas
Rock River Current
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ROCKFORD — When Shon Wilson and Tyson Parks were around the Schupbach family, they said it felt like it was their family, too.
On Thursday, they said they didn’t know what to feel.
Jacob Schupbach, 23, and his mother Romona Schupbach, 63, Jenna Newcomb, 15, and Jay Larson, 49, were killed Wednesday afternoon in a mass stabbing and attack that spanned across several homes in a southeast Rockford neighborhood. Seven others were injured in the attack.
“I don’t know how to feel about this. I’m empty inside,” said Wilson, who has been friends with the family for about a decade. “They had their whole lives ahead of them and (were) taken for no reason. I can’t accept this.”
Christian Soto, age 22, has been charged and jailed in the killing spree.
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Wilson and Parks were among hundreds who gathered Thursday near the corner of Charles Street and Hillcrest Road for a prayer vigil and display of support for those who were killed and injured in the attack.
“I just consider them golden-hearted people,” Parks said of the Schupbachs. “My last name is Parks, and they made me feel like a Schupbach.”
Parks, who met Jacob Schupbach as a freshman at East High School, said he was funny and caring. Schupbach had long talked about fixing up an LS2 Saturn to turn it into a race car.
“He was loving and goofy,” Parks said. “Everything out of his mouth was something funny, but he also cared for people. Even people who did him wrong, he still low key had a soft spot for them.”
Processing tragedy
Religious and political leaders, as well as co-workers, classmates and friends of the victims joined together Thursday afternoon to mourn the losses and care for one another.
They also offered prayers and support for the family of Jason Jenkins, an 18-year-old Auburn High School student who was killed Sunday when he was fatally stabbed while working at Walmart by a man who authorities say he did not know.
“Our focus today and in the coming weeks, as mayor of Rockford, is taking care those directly impacted and our community at large,” Mayor Tom McNamara said at news conference earlier in the day. He reiterated a similar message at the vigil.
McNamara said the vigil was a display of Rockfordians caring for one another and working to pick each other up in the wake of tragedy. He was emotional Thursday morning during a news conference at a Rockford police station as he read the names of the people who died.
“We, as a community, we’re still processing the exceptional loss of Jason Jenkins,” McNamara said. “His family and loved ones have been on our minds and in our hearts since Sunday.”
He said Jenkins and his family also need to be lifted up.
“He was a church-going young man. He was a man of many accomplishments who would set goals. He was loved by all who knew him,” McNamara said. “His family wants people to know that he was more than just this victim, he was exceptional.”
Teen died saving others
White crosses adorned with light blue hearts were lined up at the vigil Thursday for people to leave messages for the families of the victims, or messages of remembrance about those who died.
One, left for Newcomb, a 15-year-old sophomore at East High School, simply read, “I hope you have a good time in heaven.”
Jace Nguyen, a 17-year-old junior at East, said Newcomb could be quiet when you first met her but she was talkative, sweet and funny once you got to know her. Nguyen and Newcomb met at dance tryouts and had been friends and teammates ever since. Newcomb was also a basketball and softball player. She was killed while home during spring break.
“It’s absolutely shocking,” Nguyen said. “I said bye to her right before break, and I expected to come back to see her. It’s a bad dream. I just hope she would come back to school.”
Newcomb and a friend were watching a movie in the basement of her Cleveland Avenue home when Soto stormed in, asking about the location of a gun. Newcomb’s sister joined them in the basement to warn them a man had broken into the house. He then went to the basement with one of Newcomb’s softball bats and started swinging at all three girls, Winnebago County State’s Attorney J. Hanley said reading from charging documents. The normally stoic prosecutor’s voice quivered as he read the details.
McNamara said during a news conference that Newcomb’s family wanted people to know that she died saving sister and friend.
“It just proves everything I knew about her before: She protects. She’s always there for people when you need them,” said Madison Owens, a sophomore at East High School and softball teammate of Newcomb. “She had a lot of love in her heart.”
Owens, who was among several teammates and coaches to attend the vigil, said she last saw Newcomb at practice on Tuesday and they were preparing for their next game against Harlem on April 8. She said it will be an emotional game as Newcomb’s teammates play in her honor.
“Playing sports is therapeutic, being able to get your energy out, but (also) playing in someone’s honor like you would have wanted them to do if you had passed,” Madison said.
‘A ray of positivity’
Larson was killed while conducting his mail route on Winnetka Drive. He suffered multiple stab wounds in the attack, and then Soto ran over him with a pickup truck, according to charging documents.
Lawrence Steward, president National Association of Letter Carriers branch 245 in Rockford, said that Larson was the quintessential postal worker because of his love of the job and how he cared for the people on his route.
“Jay was a carrier if you made a carrier in a lab,” Steward said. “Every station Jay worked at he eventually had the biggest route in the station because he would finish his route the way it was made and they would add to it and they’d add to it and they’d add to it. He’d always end up with the biggest route but he loved doing his job.”
Steward said that his father had always taught him to live his life so that nobody had to lie at his funeral. He said Larson did just that, and was “a ray of positivity everywhere he went.”
“Jay lived (so that) nobody has to lie about how much they loved him,” Steward said.
‘Dark days’
Rosecrance is offering free counseling services for anyone who needs it Friday at Flinn Middle School. Police Chief Carla Redd said numerous people showed up for the first day of the service on Thursday, “to the point where they had to call in extra counselors.”
Redd delivered a short, emotional speech during Thursday’s vigil, saying that the police department is hurting too.
“This cuts you at the root,” she said. “I can’t imagine what the families are going through. The officers that had to be the first ones on scene, and see the victims in those conditions, this is not easy.”
“I’m a Rockfordian born and raised, and such a tragic event does not define, does not represent this community.”
Soto made an initial appearance in court Thursday afternoon, but a hearing on a petition to detain him until his trial was postponed at the request of the defense until Tuesday. He is charged with four counts of first-degree murder, seven counts of attempted murder and two counts of home invasion. He claimed to police that he was given drugs laced with an unknown narcotic that made him paranoid and erratic.
McNamara said people from across the country have reached out to him to offer support after the killing spree became national news.
Among them was President Joe Biden, who released a statement saying he was praying for those killed and wounded by the senseless violence.
McNamara said Rockford has faced difficult times before, and the people here always respond by coming together. He said the city would dig into the details in the coming days and weeks to look for solutions, but for now he urged people to take a simple step with one another: “Be kind.”
“The trauma of this magnitude impacts all of us,” McNamara said. “These are dark days, but we as Rockfordians will get through this.”
This article is by Kevin Haas. Email him at khaas@rockrivercurrent.com or follow him on X at @KevinMHaas or Instagram @thekevinhaas and Threads @thekevinhaas
