The 400 block of North Street in Elgin pulses with the kind of quiet activity typical of many close-knit neighborhoods. Children play along the sidewalks and neighbors can be found chatting on their front lawns.
The loudest noise at night usually comes from a blaring television set.
But in recent months, the peace in this neighborhood has been broken as residents have had to grapple with an outbreak of crime. Early Wednesday, many residents were shaken out of bed at 4:30 a.m. by a thunderous car bomb blast.
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Police said it was the second car bombing outside of the same residence and of the same man’s property within a year.
No one was injured in either explosion.
Two men were questioned by Elgin police Wednesday morning and released.
Residents said the explosions have many homeowners on North Street living in fear of the next attack.
“I can’t walk to my car without looking around to make sure it’s OK,” said Cindy Roby, 25, who has lived in the area almost a year. Roby said she recently saw rival gangs fight on her block, not far from the site of the blast.
Wednesday’s explosion destroyed a white 1989 Oldsmobile Delta 88, said Elgin Police Lt. David Buck.
“The front roof of the car became detached, and the auto’s windows were blown out,” Buck said.
The blast sprayed glass some 200 yards away.
Seven federal agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms were gathering materials from the blast Wednesday. Remnants of the explosive device, identified as a pipe bomb by federal authorities, were sent to a government facility in Rockville, Md., for analysis. The FBI is also investigating.
Elgin police said a nearly identical bombing took place at the same address at 1:22 a.m. on May 22, 1997. In that bombing, Elgin police responded to a call of shots fired. When they arrived they found windows shattered on a 1988 Chevrolet Celebrity owned by the victim of Wednesday’s blast.
The auto was surrounded by thick smoke smelling of gunpowder, police said. The 1997 bombing was not gang-related, police said, and there were no arrests.
Then as now, the victim did not offer a motive for the bombing. Though no arrests or charges have been made in connection with Wednesday’s crime, Elgin police detectives are working with federal agents on developing theories for a motive, which they declined to disclose.
“It looks like the bomb was placed from the outside,” said Elgin Police Lt. Terry Sterricker. The victim of the blasts, who does not have a criminal record, is not considered a suspect, police said.
Despite the two car bombings, Elgin police say the neighborhood is a quiet one that has benefited from the department’s resident police officer program. Elgin has a full-time police officer who lives and works in the area, which is located east of the downtown and borders the city’s historic district at Chicago and Liberty Streets.
“(We’ve) never really had any problems,” said Officer Glenn Theriault, who has been the resident officer in the neighborhood for more than a year. “This is really a quiet neighborhood.”