Dominique Thomas, Maywood Teen, Killed After Car Slams Into Apartment As She Slept

Story updated with additional details

A 14-year-old girl who had been sleeping on a sofa in west suburban Maywood was killed early Tuesday when a car crashed into the apartment where she lived and landed on top of her.

Dominique Thomas was a freshman at Proviso East High School and lived on the 800 block of South 19th Avenue. The Chicago Sun-Times reports that Thomas had been sleeping near her 12-year-old brother at the time of the accident. Her brother was listed in "stable" condition at a nearby hospital Tuesday morning.

A witness to the crash told WGN that he heard gunshots coming from south of the home shortly before a car sped north and ran into the garden apartment where Thomas lived. Maywood police told the Sun-Times that the driver of the vehicle had been shot, and that his passenger fled from the vehicle following the crash.

“I came down and saw a car’s headlights in the living room, and I knew my little sister and brother were down there sleeping,” Dominique’s emotional brother, Bryant Thomas, told reporters.

Barbara Cole, director of the Maywood Youth Mentoring Program, told the Chicago Tribune Dominique participated in the program, and was "on the right path."

The area has been the site of other recent fatalities, including men killed in two separate slayings earlier this month, as the Sun-Times reports. Johntue Tate, 27, was fatally shot in the 840 block of South 19th Avenue on Sept. 17. That same day on that same block, in a separate shooting, 25-year-old Vincent Frazier Jr. was also shot.

“This just has to stop. It’s senseless,” Cole told the Tribune. “There’s been a lot of violence in the community lately," she said. "She was an innocent individual.”

The driver was reportedly conscious on the scene and talking to police. No motive has been established, and no arrests have been made as of Tuesday afternoon.