No evidence of shooting after Tuesday night call to Shangri-La mobile home park near Rochelle

Sheriff: Investigation into incident closed pending any additional information 

By Jeff Helfrich, Managing Editor
Posted 9/25/24

There was no evidence found of shooting at Shangri-La Mobile Home Park near Rochelle after two calls came in reporting shots fired late Tuesday night, Ogle County Sheriff Brian VanVickle said Wednesday morning. 

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No evidence of shooting after Tuesday night call to Shangri-La mobile home park near Rochelle

Sheriff: Investigation into incident closed pending any additional information 

Posted

ROCHELLE — There was no evidence found of shooting at Shangri-La Mobile Home Park near Rochelle after two calls came in reporting shots fired late Tuesday night, Ogle County Sheriff Brian VanVickle said Wednesday morning. 

Ogle County Sheriff’s Office deputies and Illinois State Police officers responded to the area of Shangri-La Mobile Home Park at 10978 E. Fisher Road in unincorporated Ogle County near Rochelle at 10:58 p.m. Tuesday for the two calls that reported shots in the area. 

“The callers had a general direction,” VanVickle said. “We never found any evidence that a shooting had occurred. Really it was just us being in the area and checking the area. There could have been something that happened. But there were only two callers and neither of them was affiliated with whatever they heard. We had very little to go on.”

VanVickle said the calls that came in yielded a report of the shooting possibly involving a recently-evicted tenant of Shangri-La based on other incidents that have happened at the location in the past. No evidence was found of that. 

“The area in which an incident took place a couple of weeks ago was thoroughly checked and there was no evidence found there,” VanVickle said. “A couple of weeks ago there was a dispute between a tenant and someone else where someone may have tried to run someone over with a vehicle, but nobody wanted to press charges in that incident and there wasn't an awful lot of cooperation.”

The investigation into the incident Tuesday night is closed pending any additional information, the sheriff said. The incident prompted a large response, with multiple deputies and a K9. 

VanVickle said another possibility deputies considered is whether or not the sound of shots could have been someone target shooting on their own property in the area, which is legal in unincorporated areas of the county as long as the projectiles don’t leave the owner’s property. 

“Somebody could have been on their own property across the creek or wherever it may have been firing a weapon,” VanVickle said. “If that was the case and it was done safely, it is not against the law. We don't know if that was the case, but it's something to consider. Our typical call for shots fired is someone target shooting on their own property or coyote hunting at night, which opens Oct. 1. People will hear shooting in the middle of the night and it's lawful citizens out hunting.”