Elgin group proposes cash for info on shootings

The Gifford Park Association, a group known for its preservation efforts, now hopes to restore peace by offering a reward for information about recent shootings in Elgin.

The reward would be valid for any of the seven recent shootings on the city's east side, four in which no arrests have been made. The shootings have left two dead and seven injured.

During a public meeting Monday night with police Chief Lisa Womack, association board member Fran Cella said the group was considering offering the reward.

"We're interested in nipping this in the bud, although it has obviously gone a few steps beyond the bud already," Cella said. "There are people who know what happened, and they're obviously not going to come forward just to do the right thing."

Elgin Mayor Ed Schock, a longtime east-side resident, endorsed the group's proposed course of action. Whether or not it moves forward with the reward, the group's help is appreciated and may even be unprecedented, he said.

"I don't know whether we've had that before," Schock said. "But I do know what the Gifford Association has done, and that's to get involved.

"They've kept their eyes and ears open, and when they see something, they report it, and they have a meeting and get out there, and that's what it takes."

The association has not made a formal decision on the amount or details of a possible reward, which would have to be approved by the group's board. Cella said the group planned to call a special meeting this week to vote on the matter.

Any reward offered by the association would come from the group's treasury fund, which is mostly raised by hosting its annual historic house tours.

"We do a variety of community support (projects) with the money," Cella said, "But this is something completely different for us."

Though Cella made the statement after Sunday night's shooting at Ann and Gifford streets, which wounded three, the reward is not specifically in response to that incident, she said.

The group began considering the reward after the first shooting, at College and North streets July 26, which left two dead and three injured, she said. That shooting occurred in the Elgin Historic District.

Police so far have made no arrests in the Sunday night shooting.

Xavier Granger, 19, of the 400 block of Ann Street, who was shot in the foot, was scheduled to have surgery Tuesday at Sherman Hospital, according to his grandmother, Betty Granger.

Another victim, Betty Granger's 17-year-old grandson Raymond, who lives on Mark Avenue on Elgin's west side, was shot in the leg and already has been released from the hospital.

The third victim, 21-year-old Benito Suarez, also of the 400 block of Ann Street, was shot in the back, police said.

Sherman Hospital officials declined to release an update of his condition, citing patient privacy laws, spokeswoman Christine Priester said.