Mob attacks firefighters, police with fireworks, bottle rockets at complex near St. Louis

Ill. mob shoots fireworks at police, firefighters

ST. LOUIS — An unruly mob lured emergency personnel to a southwestern Illinois housing complex with reports of a blaze, a shooting and other crimes, then repeatedly attacked them with fireworks and bottle rockets, police said Tuesday.

No one was injured in the onslaughts against firefighters and police Sunday night and early Monday near a sprawling, three-block housing complex in Alton, Ill., a 30,000-resident Mississippi River city northeast of St. Louis.

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 said.

“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.

Hayes said there have been no arrests or charges yet in the attacks, and police hope footage from the complex’s surveillance cameras pinpoints the attackers.

Hayes said the firefighters were first attacked when they responded to reports of a Dumpster fire near the complex about 10:20 p.m. Sunday.

“Our firefighters got in there and started doing their thing, and out come the fireworks” including bottle rockets and Roman candles, said Mark Harris, a deputy fire chief.

After that, Hayes said, “it apparently became comical for those (attackers) involved.”

Separately, police officers were showered with bottle rockets fired from behind buildings at the complex when they investigated a call falsely claiming someone had been shot and reports of fireworks being set off.

Police officers and firefighters were attacked again when they returned to the neighborhood to douse a blazing box early Monday.

Hayes said officers tried to control the assailants by using guns firing pepper balls. He said the assaults had turned his stomach and forced so many police to address the onslaught that it left other portions of the city unprotected.

Harris said the organized nature of the attacks — and its apparent entertainment value — was a particular concern, noting that children were in the crowd and witnessed the attacks.

“Helluva example for the kids,” he said, adding, “the guys don’t get paid near enough to be shot at.”

The complex’s 800 or 900 residents will be notified in writing this week that suspects found to have taken part in the attacks will be evicted, Hayes said.