Western Springs police said there was “no credible evidence” to support a report of a suspicious male, possibly concealing a gun, entering Lyons Township High School’s South Campus, 4900 S. Willow Springs Road, at about 12:50 p.m. on Oct. 15.
A witness called police to report seeing a man entering the north entrance, near the swimming pool. Several events were taking place inside the building at the time.
The subject was described as a white male in his early 40s, with an average build and wearing a ball cap, dark sweatshirt and tan pants. The witness told police the man had a “noticeable bulge in his right pants pocket.”
Police in consultation with school officials ordered staff to evacuate the building. Officers searched the building and could find nothing suspicious. At around 3:55 p.m., police declared the building safe.
“At this time there is no credible evidence to substantiate the initial report of the individual concealing a firearm, however, the investigation into this incident remains ongoing,” stated a press release issued by the Western Springs Police Department.
Meanwhile, LTHS’ administration notified parents of the incident and on the afternoon of Oct. 15 stated that there would be an increased police presence at the campus throughout the weekend as a precaution.
Lyons Township High School serves the southern half of Brookfield.
DUI
A 52-year-old Brookfield woman faces felony drunken driving charges after she reportedly picked up her 13-year-old child from Hauser Junior High School in Riverside with her blood-alcohol content more than three times the legal level on Oct. 12 at about 3:30 p.m.
According to police, the child, who was in the rear seat of the vehicle texted relatives, saying he was afraid that his mother was impaired. Someone then called police, who stopped the woman’s vehicle in a bank parking lot in the first block of East Burlington Street. A portable breath test reportedly revealed the woman’s blood alcohol level to be .262. The legal level is .08.
The woman was charged with felony DUI because the passenger in the vehicle was under the age of 16. Police also notified the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services.
The Landmark is withholding the name of the offender so as not to identify the child.
Ladon P. Whitehead, 35, of Chicago, faces felony DUI charges after Riverside police stopped her for reportedly driving erratically and without her vehicle’s headlight on at 1:17 a.m. on Oct. 16.
According to police, Whitehead was southbound on Harlem Avenue from Ogden Avenue when an officer observed the 2010 Ford’s headlight to be off. Whitehead was arrested for DUI and police learned that her driver’s license was revoked for two prior DUI convictions dating back to 2000.
She was charged with felony DUI, driving while revoked and several traffic violations.
A 54-year-old Brookfield woman was charged with DUI/drugs, possession of a controlled substance, which is a felony, and several traffic offenses after allegedly driving so erratically that her vehicle jumped the curb while southbound on First Avenue, popping a tire at about 10:40 p.m. on Oct. 16.
The woman then reportedly continued westbound on Ogden Avenue, striking the curb again before pulling into a gas station to check the tire, but resuming southbound on Prairie Avenue, where she was stopped by police.
Police said that the woman, identified as Tami L. Gurrola, failed field sobriety tests and was arrested for driving under the influence. Police reported finding pills which, Gurrola reportedly told police, she got from a friend.
Burglary to vehicles
Riverside police issued a burglary advisory on Oct. 15 after the village experienced at least three vehicle break-ins in the past week.
A resident of the 100 block of Gage Road reported that during the overnight hours of Oct. 9-10 someone entered the unlocked garage and then used a tool to shatter the window of the vehicle, which was parked inside the garage. The offender grabbed a purse from the floor of the vehicle. Police reported finding the purse behind a shed next to the garage.
Sometime prior to Oct. 11, someone stole a bag containing a set of keys, spare change and several gift cards worth between $100 and $125 from an unlocked vehicle parked in the driveway of a residence in the 100 block of East Quincy Street.
Overnight on Oct. 13-14 someone broke out windows of two locked work vans parked behind a business in the first block of Longcommon Road.
Items were taken from only one of the vehicles, but the items were not specified in the police report.
Riverside police in their burglary advisory also noted that there was a burglary on Olmsted Road.
A resident of the 4500 block of Grove Avenue, Brookfield, reported that overnight on Oct. 14-15 someone entered his unlocked vehicle and removed old license plates left on a rear seat. Nothing else appeared to have been tampered with.
A Brookfield police officer on patrol in the 3500 block of Vernon Avenue at about 4:10 a.m. on Oct. 15 reported seeing what appeared to be someone in dark clothing leaning into the front passenger side of a vehicle parked on the garage apron. The subject ran off when he saw the officer and was able to get away.
A radar detector was left dangling from the passenger side door. Nothing else was reported missing.
Kiddie clown creeps out kid
A Riverside man walked into the police station on the evening of Oct. 11 at about 9:20 p.m., so that his son could tell police about a strange encounter with another youth wearing a clown mask.
The was boy playing Pokemon Go in the vicinity of Herrick and North Cowley roads on Oct. 11 at about 6:30 p.m. when another boy about 12 years old, wearing a scary clown mask and carrying a plastic toy machete, walked up and “growled” at him.
The boy told police he ignored the masked subject, who walked away without saying or doing anything else.
Watch your laser
Brookfield police responded to the 9400 block of Ogden Avenue on Oct. 16 at about 10:55 p.m. after a 26-year-old Countryside man called to complain that someone was shining a laser light in his direction.
The man said he was walking his dog when he saw a green laser being pointed at the wall of a building near him. The light appeared to be coming from a second-story window of the building across the street. The man was afraid the laser might have been attached to a gun.
Police contacted the alleged laser pointer, who showed them a hand-held laser pointer and told them he was testing it out and that he didn’t point it at anyone.
Police told the 21-year-old man that shining the laser could concern people and to avoid doing so while people were in the area.
Dog on a ledge
Brookfield police and firefighters were called to a residence in the 4200 block of Park Avenue on Oct. 13 at 3:40 p.m. after someone called to report a dog trapped outside on a second-story window sill.
Firefighters were able to return the dog back into the house, and shut the window. Police later made contact with the resident of the home who said he’d be sure to keep his windows closed in the future.
Took a spill
At about 8:10 p.m. on Oct. 10, a Brookfield police officer responding to a separate incident reported seeing a bicycle and a male subject lying on his back in the parkway next to a large tree near the Congress Park Train stop.
The officer went over to the man, who had a cut over his left eye and emitted an overwhelming odor of alcohol, to see if he was OK. The man, a 58-year-old LaGrange Park man, told police that he’d been drinking at a bar on Ogden Avenue in Brookfield and that he fell off his bike.
Paramedics transported the man to MacNeal Hospital in Berwyn for treatment while police locked the man’s bike to the rack outside the train station.
These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside, North Riverside, Brookfield and Western Springs police departments, Oct. 10-16, and represent a portion of the incidents to which police responded. Unless otherwise indicated, anybody named in these reports has only been charged with a crime. These cases have not been adjudicated.
—Compiled by Bob Uphues
