A 30-year-old Chicago man who had just repossessed a vehicle on the south end of Brookfield called police on Aug. 2 at about 1:45 a.m. to report hearing about 10 gunshots fired nearby, telling police he took cover and called 911 from a nearby strip mall parking lot because he was not sure if the shots were fired in his direction.

Police located the caller in the parking lot at Plainfield Road and 47th Street, and he told them the shots sounded like they came from the area near 9100 Plainfield Road or possibly west of that property.

Despite receiving multiple calls of shots fired, police initially came up empty in their search for evidence of gunshots. After observing tire skid marks on the road near Sahler and Arthur avenues, police located two spent shell casings near the intersection of Sahler and Maple avenues.

Police collected the shell casings and will send them to the Illinois State Police crime lab for analysis.

Burglary

North Riverside police are investigating an attempted burglary at a business in the strip mall at Cermak Road and Desplaines Avenue and believe the offenders aborted their mission after realizing they had broken into the wrong business.

Officers responded to Ladies & Gentlemen, a clothing retailer at 7929 Cermak Road, Suite F, on Aug. 5 at about 3:15 a.m. after someone called to report two men dressed in all black trying to break into the business. The two men were last seen leaving the area toward Keystone Avenue.

Police could not locate any suspects in the area, but they did observe that the rear door to Ladies & Gentlemen had been pried open. Nothing inside the store appeared to be out of place.

According to police, the offenders may have been looking to break into Lucky Day Café, a video gambling parlor located next door to the clothing store. The responding officer noted that the Lucky Day Café location at 26th Street and First Avenue had been burglarized on June 2 by offenders matching the description of the Aug. 5 incident, using similar means of entry.

A resident of the 3200 block of Raymond Avenue contacted police on Aug. 1 to report that sometime after July 26 someone entered his unsecured garage and removed an electric guitar, an amplifier, an AT&T router and a landline phone.

North Riverside police responded to the 2400 block of 6th Avenue on the morning of Aug. 7 after a resident called to report an overnight garage burglary.

The victim said the garage was secure at 10 p.m. on Aug. 6, but that the following morning the side service door was open and his electric bicycle was missing. Police reported not observing any signs of forced entry.

The bike, valued at $12,000, was described as a bright orange Tern GSD S00 with a black basket in front and a rear child seat. Also taken were two batteries valued at $1,000. 

Vehicle break-ins

North Riverside police responded to the 2200 block of 3rd Avenue on the morning of Aug. 2 after a resident called to report her vehicle was burglarized overnight.

The victim told police she’d parked in the driveway of her home around midnight. In the morning she found the interior of the apparently unlocked vehicle disturbed and items missing, including a lunch bag and a brown leather Michael Kors backpack containing an employer-provided Acer Pro laptop, mouse and charger.

A neighbor told police he had security video from about 2:30-3 a.m. that showed a tall, skinny man with visible tattoos on both arms who tried unsuccessfully to enter his vehicle, which was also parked in the driveway.

A resident of the 3700 block of Forest Avenue, Brookfield, called police on Aug. 3 to report that someone stole a laptop computer from her unlocked vehicle overnight. The HP laptop valued at $500 was inside a black leather bag left on the vehicle’s back seat.

Later that day, police reported the computer was pinging to a location near Midway Airport in Chicago.

A resident of the 4100 block of Raymond Avenue, Brookfield, called police on the morning of Aug. 4 to report that someone had entered his work van overnight and may have tried to steal it.

There were no signs of forced entry to the vehicle and items of value remained untouched, but part of the ignition was broken off.

A resident of the 9200 block of Burlington Avenue, Brookfield, called police on the morning of Aug. 4 to report that someone entered her unlocked vehicle overnight and removed an unknown amount of loose change from the center console.

Catalytic converters stolen

Brookfield police responded to the 9100 block of Lincoln Avenue on Aug. 5 after a resident reported that sometime during the prior week someone sawed off the catalytic converter from her 2013 Toyota, which had been parked behind her residence.

North Riverside police received four reports between Aug. 1-7 of catalytic converters being stolen from vehicles, all of them west of First Avenue on or around Aug. 6-7.

The vehicles were parked in the 2500 block of 4th Avenue, the 2400 block of 6th Avenue, the 2300 block of 9th Avenue and the 8700 block of Cermak Road. The targeted vehicles were a Cadillac, a Honda Pilot, a Toyota C-HR and a Hyundai Tucson.

Aggravated speeding

North Riverside police charged a 17-year-old boy with aggravated speeding after an officer on patrol reported observing a vehicle traveling at speeds reaching 76 mph in a 35 mph zone while eastbound on Cermak Road from the 7500 block on Aug. 4 at about 9:40 p.m.

The officer pulled the vehicle over at the North Riverside Park Mall and questioned the driver who said he was driving that fast because he just wanted to get home. 

A 27-year-old Maywood man was charged with aggravated speeding after a North Riverside police officer reported clocking the man’s silver Chevy Equinox at 85 mph in a 35 mph while southbound on First Avenue from Cermak Road on Aug. 8 at 1:35 a.m.

The officer was able to curb the vehicle in the 4300 block of First Avenue where the driver reportedly told police he was “on his way to see a female.” Police arrested the driver and impounded the vehicle.

These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Riverside, North Riverside and Brookfield police departments, Aug. 1-8, 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