Riverside police say they have recovered a vehicle involved in a shooting in March 2020 in and around a gas station in the 300 block of East Quincy Street and that they’re seeking a search warrant to enter it to obtain any evidence still inside.
The recovered vehicle, a 2006 Chevy Uplander, had been stolen from the driveway of a home in the 300 block of East Quincy Street, just a couple doors down from where a bullet riddled 2004 Chevy Silverado had been abandoned, apparently by someone involved in the March 23, 2020 incident.
At the time, police reported that an altercation started at the Amstar gas station, 3346 Harlem Ave., where police recovered two .45-caliber shell casings on the driveway apron to the business.
The vehicles then sped west down Quincy Street where more shots were fired, one of them striking a home where the Silverado was found abandoned in the driveway. That vehicle had three bullet holes in it.
Police reported finding more .45-caliber ammunition and cannabis inside the Silverado, which was seized by police. But, no one reported seeing the stolen Chevy Uplander for more than a year until Chicago police called on May 6 to report they’d recovered it parked on the street, without license plates, in the 3800 block of North LeClair Avenue.
According to witnesses, the Uplander had been on the street for just a couple of days. Chicago police used the vehicle’s VIN number to identify its owner, who had reported it stolen out of Riverside last year.
Anyone with information on the case can call Riverside police at 708-447-2127 or send an anonymous tip to crimetips@riverside.il.us.
Rental ad fraud
A Berwyn couple went to police on May 7 to report that they’d been victims of an internet scam involving a purported rental property in Brookfield that turned out to be fake.
The couple found a listing for an apartment in the 4100 block of Eberly Avenue in Brookfield on Facebook Marketplace and exchanged text messages with the alleged landlord, who provided a rental application and requested “application fees” of $2,420, which the couple paid.
When the couple went to look at the apartment, they found it vacant and the “landlord” stopped responding to calls and texts.
Gun displayed during traffic tiff
A 47-year-old Gary, Indiana, man called North Riverside police to report that another motorist pointed a handgun at him after cutting him off while westbound from North Riverside Park Mall on Cermak Road on May 2 at about 5:10 p.m.
The victim told police his vehicle was cut off by a Volkswagen Passat. The victim said as he drove past the VW, he “locked eyes” with the other motorist. At that time, according to the police report, the VW sped up next to his vehicle and the driver displayed a black handgun, loaded a round in the chamber, pointed it at him and yelled, “Now what?”
The VW was last seen heading southbound on Desplaines Avenue.
Dirt bike crashes into squad car
North Riverside police cited a 22-year-old Maywood man for several traffic offenses after he allegedly drove his dirt bike into a North Riverside police squad car on May 7 at about 5:52 p.m. at the intersection of First Avenue and 23rd Street.
According to the police report, the squad car was attempting to make a right-hand turn onto southbound First Avenue at the time of crash, which sent the dirt bike driver somersaulting and landing on the pavement in front of the squad car.
Paramedics took the man to Loyola University Medical Center for treatment of “obvious injuries to his right arm.”
A friend of the dirt bike rider who witnessed the crash in his rear view mirror, reportedly said he believed the officer intentionally hit the dirt bike. The officer reportedly said he did not see the dirt bike, and the squad’s in-car camera reportedly showed the dirt bike striking the squad, which was traveling at about 3 mph, two seconds after the squad entered the intersection.
The accident report states that the dirt bike was traveling northbound on the First Avenue sidewalk at a high rate of speed. The officer would have been looking in the other direction for traffic to clear before turning right.
These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside, North Riverside and Brookfield police departments, May 2-9 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
