Uncooperative witnesses hold up shootings, stabbings cases

STERLING - It started with a single gunshot fired along the Hennepin Canal nearly 3 months ago. Minutes after a gang-related brawl at a local water park in Rock Falls, a man went down under the 11th Street bridge with a 9-mm bullet in his buttocks, and police arrested 25-year-old DeAngelo A. Davis. Over the next 10 weeks, an unusual wave of violence swept over the area - stabbings, shootings and violent brawls that sometimes involved as many as a dozen perpetrators. The tide appears to have ebbed, but in its wake, police have a mixed bag of motives, and a long lineup of suspects and leads that overworked and understaffed departments are straining to follow. "We're doing the best we can with what we've got," Sterling Police Detective Jason Bielema said. "None of these cases have exactly gone cold, but the investigations take time." Witnesses have been uncooperative in several cases, thwarting police efforts to hand over comprehensive files to prosecutors. Some have been so uncooperative, in fact, that police can't pin down the southwest Sterling location of a fight that landed three in three hospital nearly 2 months ago, Bielema said. In the early hours of Aug. 15, police responded to a call from KSB that a man had come in with stab wounds and another accompanying him had likely been stabbed in the same fight but declined treatment. About an hour later, a third showed up at CGH Medical Center with stab wounds, Bielema said. No one has been arrested - largely because the three victims gave conflicting statements and want to shut police out. Gang activity has played a part in the violence: About half of the nearly dozen violent crimes appear to have affiliations with either national groups Latin Kings and Black Gangster Disciples or a fledgling local street group called the Warriors, police have said. Detective Steven Hubbard said groups in two cars squared off on Aug. 15 - four in one car and two in another. Police believe the fight happened a few blocks west of St. Mary's Catholic Church. In all, police believe three men were stabbed in the Aug. 15 fight, but the three gave different accounts on exactly where the alleged fight happened, and detectives haven't been able to solve the mystery, Bielema said. "These guys are still out roaming the streets," Hubbard said. "They don't want to work with police, and we haven't been able to find any evidence." Police also say John A. Wyatt, 27, of Sterling, fired into traffic near the intersection of Ninth Street and Griswold Avenue at the end of August in retaliation for gang members stabbing a family member. Officers said they found Wyatt crouching on a discharged 9-mm handgun a few blocks away. Wyatt pleaded not guilty to two felony charges: Being an armed habitual criminal and unlawful use of a firearm. In Rock Falls, a question remains as to whether the shooting along the Hennepin was related to the gang brawl at Crystal Lake. Both Whiteside County Sheriff Kelly Wilhelmi and Rock Falls police said the case indicates a connection, but cite a difficult interdepartmental investigation for failing to understand the ins and outs of the case. Some of the players Scheduled for hearings Wednesday in Whiteside County Circuit Court are: > John A. Wyatt - Police say he fired a single shot into traffic in retaliation for gang-related stabbing. 9 a.m. > Mariano G. Arellano - Accused of stabbing 17-year-old Giovanni Solano with a pocket knife during a brawl. 9 a.m. > Juan P. Amezola - Allegedly part of the brawl in which Solano got stabbed. 9 a.m. > DeAngelo A. Davis - Charged with the Hennepin Canal shooting. 1:30 p.m. Got a tip? Call Sterling police at 815-632-6640, or Whiteside County Crimestoppers at 815-625-7867.