Elgin police want community help with recent shootings

Elgin Police Chief Ana Lalley called on residents to help officers investigate three reports of shots fired, saying such cases are difficult to solve without help from the public.

Lalley, who made the plea Friday on her weekly radio show, said no one was injured in the shootings that occurred within four days of each other.

The first occurred about 3:21 a.m. on April 17 in the area of the 800 block of South Liberty Street. The next was the following day when the person who reported the shots found damage to her vehicle after hearing gunfire while driving on the 1200 block of Fleetwood Drive. The third was about 9:43 p.m. on April 21 in the area of the 100 block of S. Union. Officers arrived and found property damage associated with gunfire.

Lalley said police will do directed patrols in those areas to help prevent further shootings, but will need more information to determine what happened in the three reported shootings in the past week.

"We need you to call," she said. "We need you to come forward if you see anything. If there are shots fired, and we show up and recover a projectile, and there are no cameras, no lead, no one saw anything, that will more than likely be unsolved."

Lalley said residents are becoming more aware of shooting incidents, in part, because her department is making a point of putting the information out to the public and building more partnerships with the community to help address crimes. That means informing the public about more crimes than they may have been aware of in the past. For instance, Lalley said just a couple of years ago, the department would only put out public information about shootings that involve people being struck by a bullet. Now, the department is notifying the public about all reported shootings.

"If you only tell your community 12 times during the year there's been some type of incident with gunfire, that's probably not as bad as when you say 63 times, but to not tell your community is, to me, disingenuous," Lalley said.

According to the Elgin Police Department Transparency Information website, there were 63 total shootings in 2020, of which 45 were unsolved. Twelve people were shot that year.

Lally also reminded people that shooting a gun into the sky means the bullet or bullets will come back down somewhere, potentially causing damage, injuries or death.

Anyone with information about any crimes in Elgin can call (847) 289-2600 or text an anonymous tip to 847411 with "ElginPD" at the beginning of the message.