A Brookfield man whose car was allegedly shot up recently while driving in Chicago declined any assistance from Brookfield police after a pedestrian flagged down a Brookfield police officer to report seeing bullet holes in a car parked in the 8600 block of Brookfield Avenue.
The gray BMW 7 Series auto was found riddled with bullet holes on the morning of April 23 by the Brookfield police officer. The car’s owner, found by police to be living nearby, told the officer he didn’t report the incident to police in Chicago, where the shooting allegedly happened, that no one had been injured in the incident and that he needed no further police assistance.
The officer confirmed there were “several” bullet holes in the rear passenger side door of the vehicle and determined the car’s owner was a Brookfield resident who lived nearby. When the officer contacted the owner, he reportedly told him that he and his friends were driving in the BMW near Lake Shore Drive in Chicago “a few days ago” when a blue SUV pulled up alongside. The driver of the SUV then allegedly began shooting at the BMW.
According to police, the owner of the BMW also declined to have police place a special watch on his residence since the other vehicle didn’t follow him back to Brookfield.
Cops: Man damaged Jeep during blackout
A 26-year-old Berwyn man charged with felony criminal damage to property reportedly told police he has no recollection of extensively damaging a gray Jeep Cherokee parked outside a North Riverside bar during the early morning hours of April 19 after a night of drinking alcohol in Berwyn and North Riverside.
Security camera video reportedly showed Ramiro Rodriguez-Roman exit The Sweet Spot, a bar at 2531 Desplaines Ave., whacking the vehicle, which was parked in the lot next to the bar, with a spare car tire for over two minutes after unsuccessfully trying to gain entry to it.
The incident played out over several minutes, during which Rodriguez-Roman allegedly hit someone in the face for refusing to give him a ride home and also got into what police described as “a physical confrontation” with another motorist whose vehicle Rodriguez-Roman apparently attempted to enter while it was moving slowly past him.
Police took Rodriguez-Roman into custody at about 6:20 a.m. after someone in the 2200 block of Burr Oak Avenue called to report someone trying to gain entry to a parked vehicle there.
Aggravated domestic violence
Vicente Hernandez Jr. 23, of Riverside, was charged with felony domestic violence, interfering with reporting domestic violence and resisting arrest after he allegedly beat and choked a 36-year-old Stickney woman in front of two children outside a Riverside apartment building in the 2800 block of Harlem Avenue on April 21 at about 8:35 p.m.
Police responded to the scene after receiving several 911 calls, reportedly including from the victim, who kept getting cut off. When officers arrived they reported observing Hernandez beating the woman, who was half inside and half outside of a vehicle, in an alley behind the building.
The woman was injured, police said, with clumps of hair on the ground, visible bruises about her head, face and arms, red marks around her neck. Police intervened and reportedly fought with Hernandez to get him into custody.
Hernandez and the victim initially got into a verbal argument, police said, which later turned physical. He allegedly slapped the victim’s phone out of her hand twice as she tried calling 911.
Police said Hernandez has been arrested twice previously for domestic battery, in September 2017 in Cicero and in March 2021 in Summit, an incident that reportedly involved the same victim. That case was dropped after the victim missed a court date, police said.
Brookfield church damaged, again
For the second time in a month, someone has vandalized Faith Lutheran Church, 3801 Madison Ave., again damaging the sign board and hurling a hanging planter pole with a hooked end through the window of the church office door.
Police believe the incident happened late on April 21, around the same time a security camera captured video of a person with long hair dressed in dark clothing damaging a fence and vehicle in the same general vicinity.
The first instance of vandalism at the church happened sometime between April 2-4, when someone broke the glass protecting the sign board and pushed over a food pantry drop box at the church.
These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside, North Riverside and Brookfield police departments, April 19-25 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
