At 1 a.m. on Aug. 9, Forest Park police helped Oak Park police after Chicago police alerted them that there was a large gathering of teenagers walking west on Roosevelt Road toward Austin. Two Forest Park police officers and Illinois State Police positioned themselves at Austin and I-290, while Oak Park and Chicago police were at Austin and Garfield. The group traveled north on Austin and stopped at Harrison at the Shell and BP gas stations. According to the police report, teenagers were climbing and dancing on gas pumps and parked cars. Police formed a line and pushed the crowd north and to the east side of Austin Boulevard, where “people began to go into the Subway and completely overran the store,” according to the police report.
Then, police heard gunshots near Madison Street, and the group began to disperse. Police saw a man walking with a gun in his waistband and ordered him and a man he was walking with, who they found to also have a gun in his pants, to the ground at gunpoint. River Forest police took the men into custody. As police continued to try to clear the area, they heard gunshots near Austin and Mason. They relocated to the alley where they heard shots and found no offender or victim but located about a dozen shell casings. More teenagers fled with the second round of gunshots, and Forest Park police remained on scene until Oak Park police released them.
Deceptive practices …