Crime

DEVELOPING:

A man armed with a semi-automatic rifle held up a Circle K store in Peoria Wed.

The suspect emptied the cash drawer and fled the scene. The robbery took place around noon at the station, located at the intersection of Knoxville and Lake Ave.

Peoria police are still searching for the suspect, described as a man in his 20s. He was wearing all black with a gray handkerchief around his face during the time of the incident, according to police scanner traffic.

One person is dead and another wounded following two separate shootings by Chicago police. The police shootings happened less than an hour apart early last night on the city’s South Side.

Police say a little before 7:00 P.M., officers responding to a robbery in progress saw a man fleeing with a weapon near Ogden Park. When he did not follow their orders to drop it,  they shot him twice in the legs. He was taken to the hospital in stable condition.

U-S Senator Dick Durbin says he's glad Illinois has a stop-gap budget. But he says the year-long budget crisis didn't help reduce violence in Chicago.

Durbin spoke Sunday about last week’s killings of two black men by police officers in Louisiana and Minnesota and the subsequent killings of five law enforcement officers in Dallas during a peaceful rally.

He says the budget stalemate exacerbated the problems people in the poorest neighborhoods in the state face... like drug trafficking and gang activity.

SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) - An Illinois couple has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for kidnapping and transporting a minor across state lines with intent to engage in sexual activity. 

Thirty-seven-year-old Nicole and 46-year-old Calvin Eason were sentenced Tuesday by Chief U.S. District Judge James E. Shadid, who also ordered each to serve a lifetime term of supervised release.  

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner says he expects crime will spike "at some point" because the state budget impasse is leading to cutbacks of a juvenile offender program.   Rauner says data doesn't show any increase in crime since several counties have been forced to close Redeploy Illinois. But he says "it will."

A District 150 teacher has been placed on administrative leave following her arrest Tuesday.

28-year-old Veronica Dixon is a first-year 7th grade teacher at Trewyn K-8 School, the District said in an email to the media.

Peoria Public School’s spokesman says Dixon was arrested following a police investigation.

Records from Peoria County Jail say she was arrested on charges of sexual assault.

The District says it's cooperating with the Peoria Police officers, who are handling the investigation.

A Missouri woman who pleaded guilty to breaking into a Quincy museum has been sentenced to three years in prison.

CHICAGO (AP) - Chicago police say a person of interest has turned himself or herself in for questioning in the fatal shooting of a 9-year-old boy on the city's South Side.

A spokesman for Superintendent of Police Garry McCarthy has confirmed to the Chicago Tribune that a person of interest was being interviewed Wednesday night about the shooting death of Tyshawn Lee.

  Police say the fourth-grader was shot in the head and back Monday afternoon near his grandmother's house in the Auburn Gresham neighborhood. 

The Peoria Police Department has arrested five suspects linked to the weekend shooting that resulted in the death of 14-year-old Tommie Forest.  21-year-old Kainen Lacy is the latest arrest in the shooting death.  Police say they’re now looking for two additional suspects in the homicide.  They are 18-year-old Kiangelo Marshall and a 17-year-old male juvenile in connection to Forest’s death.   

Peoria police say the city saw its tenth homicide so far this year after a death last night.

Peoria police say detectives are investigating a homicide that occurred Wednesday between 1617 and 1619 West Lincoln.

Police responded to a ShotSpotter alert of four rounds fired, a department news release said. Officers found the body of 30-year-old Kamron Causey near a shared-driveway with apparent multiple gunshot wounds to the head  Causey was pronounced dead on scene.

WAUKEGAN, Ill. (AP) - Officials in a northern Illinois county are forming a task force to deal with increased activity by gangs they say are migrating to the area from Chicago.

The last of four defendants accused of digging up graves, dumping human remains and reselling plots at a suburban Chicago cemetery has pleaded guilty to the charges.

Maurice Dailey, who was a backhoe operator at Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, pleaded guilty Tuesday to desecration, removal of buried remains and removal of headstone charges. The 64-year-old is scheduled to be sentenced Aug. 28.

 CHICAGO (AP) - Chicago activist the Rev. Michael Pfleger says it's now time for members of the public to turn their cellphone cameras in a new direction in effort to make their neighborhoods safer. The Roman Catholic priest says that if enough people use their cellphone cameras to record shootings and other violence in their communities, it might lead to a reduction in violent crime. Pfleger notes cellphone video cameras already have been used to successfully expose incidents of excessive force or other abuses by police.

Dozens of residents turned out in downtown Peoria last night to oppose recent homicides in the city.  

The Peoria Police Department is using billboards across town to help solve the murders of two juveniles.  17-year-old Tyrone Jones and 12-year-old Demarcus Payne were both victims of gun violence this year.  Detective Keith McDaniel came up with the idea. He says he hopes the billboards will reach more people?

Peoria Police Officers responded to a physical altercation on Garden Street in South Peoria Thursday hours after regional leaders talked state cuts.  Officers made several arrests in the incident that also led to an officer-involved car accident. Peoria Police shift commander Jared Ginglen says police services could hurt if state budget woes are passed onto the city:

 Pekin Police are investigating a late Tuesday apartment building fire as an arson.  Police and fire responded to a fire at multiple apartment units in the 12-hundred block of Florence Avenue.  Officers discovered flames blocking the building entrance, and three people trapped in the upstairs apartments.  The residents were safely rescued, and police are asking anyone with information to call the Pekin Police Department or Crime Stoppers.  

  The Peoria Police Department is also looking to identify a male suspect responsible for multiple early-morning gas station robberies in the last two weeks.  The suspect is a black male, about 40 years old and over six foot tall.  Anyone with information should call the police or Crime Stoppers.  

The Peoria Don’t Shoot initiative held a call-in Monday for violent offenders with felony records. Krista Coleman is the Community Service Coordinator for Don’t Shoot. She says that’s different from previous call-in events:

  The Peoria Police Department is investigating two separate incidents of possible dog poisonings.  Police responded to the 3800 block of West Anchor Drive over the weekend to reports of three dogs becoming ill soon after going outside.  Police say they think the dogs ingested small, dough-like balls with blue specks found in the area.  They say anyone with information on the incident or seeing suspicious activity should call the police or crime stoppers. 

DNA has helped exonerate more than 300 people in the US. Among the most recent was Christopher Abernathy, freed last week from a northern Illinois prison where he served almost 30 years for rape and murder.  

The City of Peoria is recording its first homicide of the year. Police say 17-year-old Tyrone Jones Jr. was found in the 1500 block of South Arago Street with multiple gunshot wounds Monday evening. 

Peoria County Coroner Johnna Ingersoll says Jones was pronounced dead after being taken to the hospital. Anyone with information on the shooting should call Peoria Police or Crime Stoppers.  

The Pekin Police Department says its use of social media is helping to fight crime. The department has been using its Facebook page since mid-2013 to inform residents of suspects who have been arrested and those they're still searching for.

The City of Pekin is seeing a 20-percent reduction in crime this year compared to 2013.  Pekin Police Detective Mike Eten says there were 300 fewer crimes including homicide, robbery, rape and theft year-over-year.  He says community programs, residents calling law enforcement and police neighborhood patrols all helped to reduce crime

Nathan Leuthold was sentenced to 80 years in prison Wednesday for killing his wife Denise on Valentine’s Day last year. The 39-year-old Peoria man showed little emotion as Peoria Circuit Judge Kevin Lyons handed down the sentence. Lyons described Leuthold’s actions with his mistress surrounding his wife’s murder as ‘gut-wrenching’ and ‘stunning.’  A family member of Denise Leuthold also read a message in court for Denise’s parents:

Crime victim advocates are encouraging Illinois voters to approve a proposed Constitutional amendment aimed at protecting victims' rights. But not everyone thinks an amendment is needed.