Dupage Policy Journal

Former Riverside Chief of Police Tom Weitzel said via a Twitter post that the June 18 Willowbrook shooting is a symptom of lack of care from political leaders.

"The Willowbrook shooting is actually in unincorporated Willowbrook," Weitzel said. "The area is surrounded by Burr Ridge, Lemont, and the Village of Willowbrook. The area where the shooting took place has been steadily declining – lots of violence, and is patrolled by the DuPage County Sheriff."

The DuPage County Sheriff’s office is leading the investigation in the June 18 event that happened during a gathering for a Juneteenth celebration near Hinsdale Lake Terrace off of Honeysuckle Rose Lane, just west of Route 83, the Chicago Sun Times reported. The area is one of several unincorporated areas of Willowbrook, with large tracts of land connected on the north side, 

There were at least 23 victims in the shooting, one who died, the other 22 being treated at various hospitals in nearby DuPage, Will, and Cook counties, the Sun Times reported. The event is an annual tradition of the nearby Hinsdale Lake Terrace apartment residents, but several participants told various sources that this year was different and rowdier, bringing in more people. One source even reported that DuPage Sheriff’s deputies broke up a fight between two young girls at one point in the party.                   

DuPage deputies were in attendance at the event, monitoring as they had in years before, the Sun Times said. They responded to another 911 call at some point, and just before 12:30 a.m., heard gunshots in the area and responded back to the party where the shooting had occurred. Police are unsure how many firearms were used in the incident, nor how many shooters. As of Monday, they had no suspects in custody.                   

DuPage deputy chief Eric Swanson gave a brief update to reporters on Monday, giving no extra information but thanking the various local and nonlocal departments who had shown up or pledged aid to the investigation. He informed the crowd that MERIT, the countywide task force, was assisting on the case.                

On his Twitter post, Weitzel linked to to an opinion piece he recently wrote for American Police Beat. He said that crime is the newest pandemic in the nation, with a vast majority of citizens fearing for their safety. He attributes the rise in crime to the increasing restriction on and fear from police, who worry about being placed in prison, much less fired, if they make a mistake on the job.

“Every piece of new legislation coming out of most state capitals, or at the national level in Washington, is very restrictive and pervasively anti-police, resulting in increased violent crime and lawlessness,” Weitzel said.