Police surrounded a house on the 300 block of Marengo Avenue and evacuated one of the residents after her boyfriend allegedly threatened her with a gun.
On the morning of Sept. 26, police got a call from Task Inc., a company working under contract to the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, saying that one of their clients texted them to say that her boyfriend physically hurt her and wouldn’t let her leave. She also wrote that her boyfriend had a gun. Task Inc. employees contacted the boyfriend, a 46-year-old Forest Park man, who told them that everything was fine.
Treating the incident as a potential hostage situation, Forest Park and Oak Park police units took positions around the house. With police help, the victim was able to leave. After she was escorted to a safe location, the officers called the boyfriend, asking him to exit the building. He refused, originally only agreeing to leave the victim’s belongings at the rear of the building and heading back inside. After some further back and forth, he agreed to exit the house, and surrendered to the officers without incident. He told them that the gun was in his bedroom dresser.
After checking the building for other potential hostages, the officers retrieved the gun, as well as the bullet magazines and the holster.
The alleged offender was charged with aggravated assault with a firearm.
Stolen cars
Two vehicles were stolen on Sept. 26 – one overnight and one around noon.
A woman reported that her gray 2022 Infinity, which she parked in front of a house on the 600 block of Hannah Avenue, was stolen. The victim believed she might have accidently left her key fob inside. Using the LoJack stolen vehicle recovery system installed in her car, she tracked it to 4673 W. Madison St., in Chicago’s Austin neighborhood. The police contacted LoJack, which tracked the vehicle to an address further east.
The victim’s car subsequently struck a Chicago police officer’s vehicle. Forest Park police shared the Infinity’s tracking information with CPD, but they weren’t able to track the vehicle at the time of the report.
Later, at around noon, a man stole his ex-girlfriend’s red 2014 Ford Focus from the One Time Auto Financing lot at 7304 Roosevelt Rd. The victim said she returned the vehicle, which she previously bought from the company, after her transmission failed. One Time Auto agreed to auction the car off and let her use the proceeds to buy another car. But before the deal was complete, the ex-boyfriend came the dealership, “caused a disturbance” and drove off with the car. The victim believes that her ex may have copied the keys without permission.
Burglary from vehicle
A beer delivery driver had his money bag stolen while making a delivery to the convenience store at the Forest Park Blue Line CTA terminal.
The driver working for the Brewsmart Beverage company made the delivery on Sept. 27, between 2:10 p.m. and 2:20 p.m. After finishing the delivery, he went to put the bag containing cash and check payments and realized that it was stolen. The bag contained $1,500 in cash and around $500 to $600 in checks.
Police officers were waiting to get security footage from the CTA at the time of the report.
These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Forest Park Police Department, Sept 26-29, 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
