Posted on 09/28/2009 3:57:21 PM PDT by GLH3IL
PEORIA — .More than 24 hours after a melee broke out at an apartment complex for Illinois Central College students early Sunday, police were still sorting out the details.
Preliminary information from East Peoria police indicates a party Saturday night at WoodView Commons, an apartment complex at 100 WoodView Lane, grew out of control.
“As best we can gather, the initial scenario is that there were some discourse between two gangs that became heightened by the playing of a certain rap song that insulted one of the gangs, and the fight was on,” Police Chief Ed Papis said Monday. “Whoever was DJing (the party), when they played the rap song, one of the groups became insulted and the fight escalated.”
Police were called to the apartments about 11:50 p.m. after an undetermined number of gunshots were fired. Between 250 and 400 party-goers were scattering in all directions, many in a panic, Papis said.
Papis said at least four people were hospitalized, including a woman who was run over by a car trying to flee gunshots and sustained two broken legs. There were unconfirmed reports of gunshot wounds.
Two East Peoria police officers were injured, but not hospitalized.
In the aftermath of the brawl, many at the apartments believed people had been shot. “We can’t confirm it,” Papis said. “When you have a confusing melee going on, there’s all kinds of directions people lead us on.”
At least four vehicles were damaged by bullets, he said. He said it was unclear how many total rounds were fired, or how many different guns were discharged.
“We’re trying to sort all of this out, and we’re not getting too much information from the folks who we’ve arrested,” Papis said.
Three arrests were made Sunday, but other suspects still are being sought. Emanuel Jones, 21, Jemeral Linwood, 19, and Rodrick Johnson, 19, were booked into the Tazewell County Jail on charges of mob action and aggravated battery. Their bond hearing is set for Tuesday afternoon.
Seven police agencies responded to the fight — East Peoria, Peoria, Tazewell County, Creve Coeur, Washington and the East Peoria Park District.
ICC surveillance video was being reviewed Monday. Papis also said police were examining one of the bullet-riddled cars for evidence.
The police chief said one of his officers sustained a torn uniform and bruises and scrapes to the face, knees, elbows and hands. Another officer was cut on the hand. Neither officer was transported to a hospital.
Police and ICC officials were expected to meet Monday afternoon to discuss the incident, although the apartments are not owned by ICC.
“Rest assured that I am not at all happy about this situation,” Papis said. “We will respond accordingly.
“Anytime one of my officers gets hurt, it becomes incumbent upon me to put measures in place so that does not happen again.”
A Kappa! Usually the Q dogs are the brawlers.
I've been wondering about that too. It is a relatively small junior college.
You're right about E.Peoria, it's a nice place, I lived there many years, currently live in N. Pekin.
The riff-raff have learned what bridges are for and they are bringing their messes with them. Wal-Mart is very convenient by the river and easy to get to from the west. The amount of shop lifting that store has is amazing.
I grew up in East Peoria, not more than a couple of miles away from ICC. I took a couple of summer classes there during college. It's a nice school and I enjoyed my experience there. East Peoria isn't the community it was when I was a kid, but it is still a good place to live.
I like the Peoria area. I'd move back in a second if the right opportunity presented itself - even with the stupidity of the Illinois government and Chicago corruption. When I am home, I avoid the Wal-Mart in E.P. at all costs. There's a nice one in Washington.
As for why ICC has student housing...well technically ICC doesn’t..it can’t legally. The housing is actually owned by the ICC Education Foundation, which is a separately chartered organization devoted to fundraising activities on behalf of ICC. The Foundation in turn hired the campus housing management company to amdinister the property. It was the management company that built, operates, and maintains the student housing. Why the shell game? Why was such a complex effort undertaken just to have student housing on campus? You'll have to ask the college administration, the housing doesn't seem to have had that significant of an impact on enrollement levels.
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