ROGERS PARK — Police said officers recovered a gun near a stretch of West Birchwood Avenue in Rogers Park that has plagued neighbors for months with violent activity and unsavory individuals they suspect are running drugs though the block.
At a CAPS meeting Tuesday, Sgt. Shawn Sisk told neighbors that police found a gun in the area shortly after meeting with residents about their concerns on the block in late July. There were no arrests made in relation to the gun, he said.
Sisk described the area around 2040 W. Birchwood Ave. as a "problem block that needs constant attention" and called the circumstances surrounding its monitoring by police and community members an "ongoing situation that we have to keep on."
It was near the site where on Sept. 5, three men were shot at 2059 W. Howard St., the location of a small strip mall only about a block and a half from Birchwood.
Sisk said the victims' injuries, which were all in their legs, indicated the shooter was aiming low.
It wasn't the first shooting in the area this year. On May 3, a 14-year-old boy was shot in the 1900 block of West Birchwood, and on June 1, another person was shot just down the street in the 2000 block.
Residents like Woody Johnson, who attended Tuesday night's meeting, said problems have persisted specifically at 2040 W. Birchwood and at other empty buildings down the block.
He said though 2040 W. Birchwood has been a hotspot for many issues, often times he sees people he does not recognize as living in the area fighting, waiting for cars to pull up to residences and otherwise creating problems in the neighborhood at other nearby buildings where trees are more overgrown as to hide their activities.
Recently, Sgt. Michael Moreth said he made an arrest on the block after getting a call from residents who said people were hanging out in the area. He said he ticketed a person on a marijuana charge.
Moreth also said some homes on the block, like 2040 W. Birchwood, are in a state of "transition" where they are in limbo between ownership.
According to property records, the building at 2040 W. Birchwood went into foreclosure in December 2013 and in April 2015 a judicial sale was facilitated and ownership was awarded to Kordun Investments LLC, a company owned by Dane and Vlado Bjelopetrovich of Lincolnwood.
Both Moreth and Sisk urged residents to continue to call 911 if they see any suspicious activities or people in the area, with Sisk adding that anytime residents gather in a place they feel they are hidden and protected from people invested in the neighborhood "there is a potential for violence" if "no one is watching them" and "no one is challenging them."
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