Crime

Opinion

CRIME District 209 investigates alleged school shooting threat

A Proviso East High School student attending summer school at the Proviso Math and Science Academy was pulled out of school on July 27 after another student reported he threatened to bring a firearm to school.

The other student alleged that he saw a social media post of a photo showing a student holding a gun. The student also allegedly commented “going to school” in the original post’s comment section.

Proviso East principal Rodney Hull reportedly told officers nobody else has seen the alleged post, and that he didn’t know what social media platform the post was made on.

When the student arrived at school, he was stopped at the entrance and searched. After school officials questioned him, the student was sent home. Hull told the police that the student would attend his classes remotely for “several” days as the school officials follow up.

Portillo’s employee chased through parking lot

Two men and a woman allegedly chased an employee of Portillo’s, 7740 Roosevelt Rd., in a van through the Forest Park Plaza parking lots. The incident took place on July 27 at around 11:52 a.m. According to the location manager, the employee was scheduled to begin his afternoon shift when a black sedan pulled into the parking lot and pulled up to the employee. The employee and the vehicle occupants, two men and a woman, reportedly talked before the employee ran, and the sedan chased after him. The manager last saw the employee run toward the Enterprise Rent-a-Car location further southeast, at 7630 Roosevelt Rd.

The manager tried to call the employee on his phone several times. The employee only picked up once, said he was fine and hung up. The investigating police officer attempted to reach him, but the call went to voice mail and the voicemail box was full.

Vehicle theft

A black 2018 Jeep Grand Cherokee was stolen from Hawk Chrysler Dodge Jeep, 7911 Roosevelt Rd. before the car owner could pick it up.

The owner took the vehicle to the dealership to be serviced. The vehicle was in the east service bay on July 25, when a silver Jeep SUV pulled into the dealership at 2:43 p.m. The silver Jeep reversed into a service bay door, one of the passengers got out and went into the victim’s vehicle. Both Jeeps left the dealership within two minutes and headed east on Roosevelt Road. Surveillance footage captured the vehicles heading north on Marengo Avenue.

While the camera was able to capture the license plate on the thieves’ vehicle, it was registered to a different model car.

Dropped bicycles

An unknown individual dropped off multiple bikes on the 100 block of Rockford Avenue July 27 at around 5:22 p.m.

The witness said she saw individuals leave several bikes on the block. When she asked them what they were doing, the individuals told her, “This is where we leave bikes” and didn’t elaborate further.

When the officer arrived on the scene, there was only one bike remaining – a green LIV brand bike. The bike had some damage on the handlebars but was otherwise in good condition. There is no record of the bike being stolen.

The bike was taken to the police station garage for safekeeping.

These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Forest Park Police Department, July 25-28, 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 Igor Studenkov