A MOB OF UNCIVILIZED CRETINS IN ALTON, ILLINOIS, set up a vile and disgusting form of entertainment for the residents of a public housing complex Sunday night. In what was obviously a planned stunt, there were a couple of trash fires set and simultaneously a hoax “shooting” call was dispatched to the police dept. When the Alton firefighters arrived and began putting out the fires, a mob of about 300 people began shooting fireworks, aiming roman candles and bottle rockets directly at the firefighters.
The Alton Telegraph reports:
The attacks began when firefighters arrived to fight what authorities believe was a purposely set fire in a large trash receptacle at 10:25 p.m. Sunday in the 700 block of Oakwood Road. Police already were on the way to respond to calls about a large amount of fireworks being set off.
When firefighters and officers arrived, members of the mob shot bottle rockets at them from behind buildings. Police used the pepper-ball guns against the crowd and left after firefighters extinguished that first fire. They returned after getting reports of people shot or injured, but found none, the report says.
Police were attacked a third time when someone reported a truck on fire, but it turned out to be a box, and left when they ran out of pepper-ball ammunition.
There were two more such fires to follow Monday – at 1 a.m. in the 800 block of Oakwood and 10:37 p.m. in the 700 block of Oakwood – and one more at 1 a.m. Tuesday in the 700 block of Oakwood, said Deputy Chief Mark Harris of the Alton Fire Department.
The attackers apparently intended the assaults as amusement for a crowd of several hundred adults and children who had gathered at the Oakwood Housing Complex to watch, at times requiring police to fire volleys of pepper balls to control the throng, Police Chief David Hayes told the press.
”It defies human logic,” Hayes said, calling the outbursts “despicable” and uncivilized. “It’s the work of hoodlums that would create a ruse like that to lure in emergency services people who are paid to protect them and be at their service, then use those resources as target practice and fun” with firecrackers, bottle rockets and other fireworks all outlawed in Illinois.
CLICK HERE to view the video report with Fire Chief
Greg Bock prepared by KSDK-TV.
The Alton Housing Authority along with the police are reviewing the complex’s video surveillance tapes in attempts to identify the people participating in the assaults. The Housing Authority is also mailing notices to all the residents that anybody who participated in any way in the disruption will be evicted.
Read the full account in The Telegraph HERE.
