Thief makes off with downspout from Elgin home

An armed thief tried to steal a copper downspout Monday morning from an Elgin home but ran off when a resident intervened, police said.

The resident looked out a window at 11:10 a.m. Monday and saw a man about 20 years old kicking the copper downspout, police said.

The Liberty Street resident confronted the thief, who pulled a black handgun.

When the resident backed off, the thief ran off with the 60-inch long downspout valued at $400.

The thief jumped into a white conversion van with green accents that was waiting at the corner of Division and Liberty streets and was driven by an older man, police said.

The thief damaged another downspout on the home valued at $800 when he tried to pull it away from the wall, police said.

Elgin police later found what appeared to be the stolen copper downspout at a local recycling center.

An employee at the center told police a man who brought it in was paid $22 in cash.