Police Blotter: Shot Fired into Townhouse; Soda Snatchers

Saturday, May 28

Soda snatchers

A security guard at Tinley's Freedom Park called police Saturday about a theft from a vending machine.

An officer arrived at the park, 7835 W. Timber Drive, around 10:45 p.m., according to the report. The security guard said that about five minutes earlier, he noticed that the key hole to a Coca-Cola vending machine at the park had been propped open and its door was no longer locked.

All of the soda and money was missing from the machine, the report said. It did not specify the total loss, but the security guard said he believed the theft occurred between 6 p.m. and 10:40 p.m. Saturday.

Wedding ring and camera thief

A 45-year-old woman, of the 7300 block of West 175th Street in Tinley Park, reported Saturday that someone had stolen a wedding ring and digital camera from her apartment some time during the past couple of months.

The ring was a man's wedding band, valued at $269, according to the report, and the camera had an estimated cost of about $150. Police said there were no signs of forced entry to the apartment, and the victim said she sometimes leaves her front door unlocked when visiting neighbors. The ring box was placed into evidence for fingerprint analysis.

Shot fired into townhouse

A 45-year-old woman, of the 6500 block of Pine Lake Drive in Tinley Park, called police shortly before 11 p.m. Friday, saying a bullet was lodged in her bedroom wall.

She led the responding officer to the second level of her townhouse and into a loft area, according to the report. The officer said he found a hole in a window's screen, curtain and shattered glass below the window's ledge.

"I then observed a hole in the drywall on the west wall in the loft," the report said. "That hole continued through the wall and into the master bedroom drywall in the adjacent room."

A bullet was lodged in the drywall of the bedroom's west wall, according to the report.

"I attempted to retrieve the bullet from the drywall with pliers but was unsuccessful and the bullet fell to the base of the wall," the report said.

The woman said her 79-year-old mother lives with her, and she does not know of anyone who would try to harm them. There were not any reports of shots fired or fireworks between May 26 at 8 p.m. and May 27 at 7 a.m. — the suspected time that the bullet was fired, police said.