Police beat
Elgin
• Between four and five shots were fired Sunday night on the 1700 block of Mark Avenue, police said. Witnesses told police they heard the gunshots about 8:12 p.m., then saw three men running on Mark Avenue, east of Ruth Drive, according to a report. Police were unable to find the bullet shells, reports said.
• Michael Z. Thomas, 24, of the 3000 block of Calwagner Street in Franklin Park, was charged Sunday with attempt theft of services when police said he stole tickets from a Metra train car and tried to resell them on a train platform in Elgin, police said. Thomas admitted to police that he cleans cars for Metra and that he swiped the tickets - two used weekend passes and a monthly pass - while on duty, then tried to resell them, according to a police report. Police nabbed Thomas at the station on the 100 block of West Chicago Street. He was released on his signature and is due to appear in court at 9 a.m. Jan. 16 in Elgin, police said.
• It apparently cost more for an Elgin teenager to leave jail than it did to get in. Police reports say that Patrick F. Lipscomb, 17, of the 700 block of Schiller Street, on Monday took a bottle of alcohol worth $9.49 from the Meijer store in the 800 block of South Randall Road. Lipscomb was released on $100 bond and is scheduled to appear in court at 9 a.m. Jan. 26 in Elgin.
Kane County
• James M. Palmer, 36, of the 900 block of Cookane Avenue, Elgin, was arrested at 9:16 a.m. Wednesday and charged with drunken driving, improper lane use and driving without insurance after a two-vehicle crash on Route 20 east of Marshall Road in Plato Township, police said. Seven people, including Palmer and six passengers in the other vehicle, were taken to Delnor-Community Hospital in Geneva. Palmer told police the accident happened when he hit a patch of ice and slid into the oncoming lane, according to a police report.
• A burglary attempt was reported Sunday on the 1200 block of Manito Trail, Dundee Township, after a homeowner found a door forced open and other signs of a break-in. Nothing was reported stolen, according to a police report.
• William J. Beisner, 23, of 19N900 Big Timber Road, Hampshire Township, was issued a nuisance citation at 2:37 a.m. Saturday after neighbors complained of snowmobile noise, police said. According to a report, it was the third time police were called to Beisner's residence because of such complaints.