Oak Lawn police say they are investigating an apparent road rage shooting that left a man seriously injured Tuesday, leading village manager Thomas Phelan to blast prosecutors for increases in crime.
During Tuesday’s Oak Lawn Village Board meeting, Phelan said he believes the community is still essentially safe, but blamed what he called a soft-on-crime approach for an increase in public violence.
“At the end of the day I believe there’s just bad people out there and these people have guns, and they don’t care about life, yours or their own, and they don’t care about getting caught because they get off or they get light sentences,” Phelan said. “I, for one, am sick of this constant rhetoric about the victims who are the perpetrators. Ronald Reagan said back in the day we have to stop making these people martyrs.”
In Tuesday’s shooting, Oak Lawn police said a sergeant was in the area of 107th Street and Cicero Avenue at about 6 p.m. when he heard two gunshots, and soon found a man, described as in his 40s, on the ground in the parking lot of a nearby business.
The man was bleeding from two gunshot wounds and taken to a hospital, police said.
Police chief Dan Vittorio said Tuesday night the suspected shooter got on Interstate 294 and began speeding at over 100 mph, at which point law enforcement couldn’t keep up.
Vittorio said the suspected shooter and the victim got into some kind of altercation and the two men exited their vehicles and approached each other when the assailant produced a gun and shot the victim.
The man suspected of being the shooter was wearing a white T-shirt and driving a Chevrolet Tahoe, police said. Police ask anyone with information is asked to contact investigators at 708-907-4051, or text tips to police at 708-613-8477.
Phelan told the Village Board that prosecutors must rely on much more evidence and proof in order to secure convictions, making it easier for would-be criminals to walk.
“The perfect becomes the enemy of the very good,” he said.
Phelan said Oak Lawn is beefing up its police force including seeking four new officers, but he said he understands public frustration.
“You feel helpless, like things aren’t being done,” Phelan said. “We might say it’s not just Oak Lawn, but when you live in Oak Lawn or have a business in Oak Lawn, you care about what’s happening here.”
He said he hopes residents will be angry and demand harsher penalties for crime and a tougher stance on criminals.
“I think it’s time as a society that we get more vocal about the people who are getting victimized over and over again,” he said.
Mike Nolan is a staff reporter and Jesse Wright is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.
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