Berwyn Police Blotter
Gang activity
Thursday, May 22, 2008
Gang graffiti
May 16, 2008, 5:41 PM
Illegible graffiti was painted on an overhead garage door in the 2400 block of Cuyler. An overhead garage door in the 1500 block of Home was defaced with gang graffiti and symbols.
Gang activity • Graffiti / vandalism / criminal damage • (0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink
Monday, May 19, 2008
Victim: gang slogans, club involved in 31st and East disturbance
May 14, 2008, 4:49 PM
Police responding to a disturbance in the 3000 block of Clarence met with the complainant at the corner of Clarence and 31st. The man said he saw a brown Buick with temporary Illinois plates run the stop sign at 31st and East, then pull into the alley behind the 6600 block of 31st. The victim said the two men in the Buick yelled at him, leading him to believe they needed help, so he exited his vehicle. But as he approached the pair, he said, one man produced a silver-color club from the Buick and came toward him. Now believing himself in danger of assault from the club-wielding man, the victim returned to his car and phoned 911. He said a second man yelled gang slogans at him. The victim positively identified both men after police stopped them. Police charged Vicente A. Hernandez, 19, of the 3700 block of Home, with one count of aggravated assault. Victor A. Smekal, 19, of the 6600 block of 31st, was charged with disorderly conduct. The silver-color club was recovered as evidence.
Disorderly conduct • Gang activity • Weapons-related • (0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink
Sunday, May 18, 2008
Three garages defaced with graffiti
May 13, 2008, 11:56 PM
Three overhead garage doors were found bearing graffiti done in black spray paint, in the 1800 block of Grove.
Gang activity • Graffiti / vandalism / criminal damage • (0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Graffiti for Monday
May 12, 2008, 7:14 AM
The west wall of a business in the 6800 block of Roosevelt was defaced with graffiti.
7:14 PM
Gang graffiti, rendered in black spray paint and intended to express disdain for a well-known street gang in favor of a less-well-known one, was found defacing property in the 6200 block of Ogden.
Gang activity • Graffiti / vandalism / criminal damage • (0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink
Gang-related fight on Harlem
May 10, 2008, 9:28 PM
Police sent to check out a disturbance in the 3300 block of Harlem met with an 18-year-old woman from that block, and a 23-year-old man from the 2300 block of Euclid. The man had a bloody nose. He said while he and the woman were entering her residence two unknown males made suggestive statements to the woman. The man said he talked back aggressively to the two. He said he knew the two men were active members of a Chicago street gang, and said they mistakenly believed him to be a member of a well-known rival gang. After the ritual exchange of gang slogans was completed, the two men attacked him before they fled southbound in the Harlem/Maple alley. Later, the victim said one of the men was named “Victor” and lived somewhere in north Berwyn.
Assault, battery • Disorderly conduct • Gang activity • (0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink
Vandals attack various vehicles
May 10, 2008, 12:23 PM
Someone used marker to write on the trunk of a 1998 Volvo parked in the 3600 block of Clarence.
1:16 PM
The owner of a Nissan Pathfinder, parked in the 2100 block of Highland, complained she found the vehicle with a tire punctured. The victim said it was the third tire she’d had punctured this week, but only the first she reported.
11:44 PM
In the 2200 block of Gunderson, a Ford truck had its passenger window broken.
Gang activity • Graffiti / vandalism / criminal damage • (0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink
Graffiti roundup
May 9, 2008, 9:51 AM
Silver graffiti was found on the rear wall of a building in the 6700 block of Cermak.
1:47 PM
Gang graffiti marred an overhead garage door in the 1600 block of Ridgeland.
4:47 PM
Graffiti was left on a brick wall in the 2200 block of Oak Park, as well as on trailers parked behind the address.
6:36 PM
Graffiti was found scrawled all over the playground equipment at the park at 19th and Cuyler, as well as on a brick garage wall in the 1800 block of Harvey.
Gang activity • Graffiti / vandalism / criminal damage • (0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink
Friday, May 09, 2008
Gang and other graffiti
May 4, 2008, 1:23 AM
Gang graffiti in gold paint marred a garage in the 1300 block of Clinton.
10:30 AM
Two buildings in the 6300 block of Roosevelt were hit with graffiti.
5:20 PM
Gang graffiti was found on the east wall of a building in the 7100 block of Cermak.
9:50 PM
Unable to think up anything clever or even cryptic, some kids wrote “I WAS HERE” on the east wall of Lincoln Middle School, 6432 16th. Witnesses implicated a couple of boys in their early teens, seen nearby.
Gang activity • Graffiti / vandalism / criminal damage • (0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink
Wednesday, May 07, 2008
Gang graffiti painted on garage
May 3, 2008, 9:46 AM
Graffiti of a well-known street gang was found on an overhead garage door, in gold paint, in the 2200 block of Clinton.
Gang activity • Graffiti / vandalism / criminal damage • (0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink
Sunday, May 04, 2008
Gang graffiti continues to be found after midnight, all day
May 1, 2008, 12:10 AM
An officer looking for gang graffiti found it, freshly painted, on a dumpster in the 7000 block of 16th. In the same block, graffiti was found on a truck.
12:54 AM
Gang graffiti, recently painted, was found on a garage door in the 1900 block of Clinton.
6:24 AM
A brick wall in the 7000 block of 16th was found painted with gang graffiti letters and drawings.
4:37 PM
Grey paint was used to put gang graffiti on the front of a residence in the 1800 block of Kenilworth.
6:46 PM
Gang graffiti was sprayed on the front of a home in the 1400 block of Wenonah.
Gang activity • Graffiti / vandalism / criminal damage • (0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink
Gang graffiti not even dry when found
April 30, 2008, 11:57 PM
A witness saw three males in the process of painting gang graffiti and symbols on an overhead garage door in the 1500 block of Wenonah. As the witness approached, the offenders began walking away eastbound on 15th. When police arrived, the paint was still wet. Similar graffiti was found on a property in the 1500 block of Home. The offenders were described as three male Hispanics, dressed in jeans and black sweaters.
Gang activity • Graffiti / vandalism / criminal damage • (0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink
Friday, May 02, 2008
Monday graffiti roundup
April 28, 2008, 12:02 AM
Gang graffiti was found marring a brick wall in the rear of an address in the 6200 block of Ogden.
10:18 AM
A caller told police he saw four males in dark hoodies spray-painting graffiti on Fitzgerald’s, 6615 Roosevelt. The witness said the offenders fled on foot eastbound, then ran south on East Avenue.
7:23 PM
Graffiti was found in the 1200 block of Clinton. In the 3600 block of Euclid, gang graffiti was found on a garage door.
11:44 PM
Red spray-painted graffiti was found on the front and back of a business in the 6800 block of Roosevelt. More was on a wall in the 6900 block of Roosevelt.
11:56 PM
Someone used spray paint to deface the war memorial at Clinton and Roosevelt next to the American Legion Hall, 6919 Roosevelt.
Gang activity • Graffiti / vandalism / criminal damage • (0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink
Thursday, May 01, 2008
Sunday graffiti
April 27, 2008, 10:29 AM
Gang graffiti symbols and illegible marks were found defacing a garage in the 1300 block of Grove. Another garage in the 1300 block of Kenilworth bore the same symbols.
12:23 PM
Graffiti was found on an Illinois Dept. of Transportation traffic control box in the 6300 block of 26th, as well as on the front door of a building on the block.
8:15 PM
A man in the 6400 block of 16th reported he saw four or five juveniles in his alley, then saw one one them deface his garage door using a marker. After leaving gang graffiti on the victim’s garage, the offenders fled northbound in the 1500 block of Elmwood.
Gang activity • Graffiti / vandalism / criminal damage • (0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink
Saturday’s graffiti
April 26, 2008, 4:56 PM
Gang graffiti defaced two properties in the 3600 block of East. Symbols were found on a fence, as well as on a garage.
7:27 PM
Blue graffiti was found on a garage door in the 3600 block of Euclid.
Gang activity • Graffiti / vandalism / criminal damage • (0) Comments • (0) Trackbacks • Permalink
Tuesday, April 29, 2008
Gang sign—watch the eyebrows
From the CBS News website:
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/04/28/ap/strange/main4053149.shtml
Specially Groomed Eyebrows A Headache At Oregon High School
PORTLAND, Ore., Apr. 28, 2008
(AP) A Portland high school is raising eyebrows with its brow grooming policy: shave ‘em or go home.
Some students at Centennial High School have shaved vertical lines into their eyebrows in a trend recently made popular by hip-hop star Soulja Boy. School officials say the mark looks like a gang symbol.
Centennial administrators are telling students with the lines that they can’t return to school until they shave their eyebrows off. Assistant Principal Mark Porterfield said the students are not suspended, but they are not allowed in school until they cooperate.
Four students have been sent home. One returned with a bandage covering the shaved brow.
Police say gangs have co-opted the trend for their own use, with one gang’s members marking themselves by shaving one line into an eyebrow and three lines in the other to symbolize 13.
“We don’t dictate policy for any schools,” Officer David Schmidt of the East Multnomah County Gang Enforcement Team said. “We just tell them what we see the latest trends are. This is a way for them to identify each other. In a school setting, it intimidates other kids.”
Andy Gonzalez, a junior at Centennial with one vertical line shaved down his brow, was studying for a test when a security guard approached him and said, “If you’re going to come to school like that, don’t come at all.”
Gonzalez, 17, says he isn’t in a gang and shaved the lines to look cool and impress girls. But he says he’d be humiliated if he had to shave his brows off.
Centennial implemented the rules about the eyebrows after other area high schools did, but other schools say they only look for the markings of the 13 style.