Two suburban teenagers were arrested Monday after police found them in possession of a replica BB gun following back-to-back reports of a window being shot out and a garage burglary in Riverside.
Riverside Police were called to a home in the 200 block of East Burlington at about 9 p.m. Monday night for a report that a window had just been shot out. When police arrived, they found a bullet hole in the window. They later discovered the hole was made by a pellet from a BB gun, police said.
While police were investigating the incident on East Burlington, they received another call for an attempted garage burglary a block away. When they arrived, they found three juveniles fleeing from the area and took them in custody, police said.
While the teens were in custody, police recovered two replica BB guns that looked like Glock 9 mm. Police said they were exact replicas of real handguns commonly used by officers.
Damage from the replica guns was found at two separate homes, one in the 200 block of East Burlington and one in the 100 block of Herrick. Police said pellets were also shot at homes, street lights and moving vehicles.
Two 17-year-old men were charged in the incident, one from Riverside and one from Forest Park. One was charged with criminal damage to property and the other with trespassing. A third juvenile was taken into custody but not charged, police said.
Riverside Police Chief Thomas Weitzel said this was the fourth incident in the past nine months involving a replica BB gun.
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"My fear is that sooner or later someone is going to walk into a situation where a resident feels that the gun is real and it could escalate into a violent confrontation," Weitzel said. "I am also fearful that one of my officers will have to make a split second decision, and I would not want to see a violent encounter in which officers had to discharge their firearm."
