DuPage authorities still mum on shooting death near Roselle
Nearly a month has passed since a 27-year-old Glendale Heights man was gunned down in a fatal shooting near Roselle and the authorities investigating the case still are refusing to release any details.
It took nine days for the DuPage County coroner's office to identify the victim as Sanchez Townes-Elliot and even longer to release his age and hometown.
And DuPage sheriff's officials say it could be another week before any information is released on what they called "the Roselle case."
The shooting is believed to have occurred near Lake Street and Wheaton Road in an unincorporated area served by the sheriff's office.
Authorities have maintained they see no reason to release information on the homicide because they believe the shooting was an isolated case and there is no danger to the public.
"We have confirmed the person of interest in this death investigation left the area immediately after the incident," DuPage County Sheriff Sgt. Robert Harris said the day after the shooting. "Neither the deceased nor the person of interest are from that area. No one is in custody."
Harris walked that back Wednesday, two days after the coroner's office updated a June 12 news release to identify Townes-Elliot as from Glendale Heights. He said detectives originally told him Townes-Elliot did not live in DuPage.
"Apparently the victim was a transient and he had a Glendale Heights address on his ID," Harris said. "He had been in Batavia as well and bounced back and forth."
Sheriff's deputies began the investigation shortly after 2:30 a.m. June 3. They released their first statement about the probe via email at 10:52 a.m. June 4 and did not release any other information until revealing the victim's name on June 12.
Both the coroner and sheriff's offices have denied Freedom of Information requests from the Daily Herald seeking reports and other materials related to the shooting, saying they are part of an ongoing investigation.
Paul Darrah, spokesman for DuPage County State's Attorney Robert Berlin, said only that "the matter remains under investigation."