MOLINE, Illinois – At Olson’s Auto Service Gary Hamberg was having a typical day when suddenly gunshots sounded through Moline’s downtown streets.
“I heard a bunch of pops. I thought it was 10 or 11 but looking later it seemed to be more than that,” Hamberg remembers.
Police say a two-car deadly shooting started at 23rd Street and River Drive, then near 19th street, and ended in an alley next to Moline City Hall around 10:10 a.m. on Wednesday, October 31.
“We are right down the street from the police station, most criminals don’t want to be there, they will be anywhere but there,” Hamberg says.
When he walked out to the parking lot next door, he saw the crime scene himself. Bullet holes embedded in the car and windows completely shot out.
The victim inside a van was 22 years old.
“We walked over to the alley to see him in his car hunched over and the police weren’t in a big hurry, so we knew he was dead,” remembers Hamberg.
“It’s heartbreaking when you have a 22-year-old kid. I know he’s an adult by age, but he has a family of his own and now they are fatherless, his girlfriend lost her boyfriend, and his mother and father lost their son,” says Moline Police Detective Michael Griffin.
“It’s not everyday people get shot right there, so yeah it was pretty out of the ordinary I would say,” comments Hamberg.
Police are not yet releasing the name of the victim.
Police are also still looking for a small black SUV with two or three males wearing Halloween masks. Anyone with information is asked to call Moline Police or Crime Stoppers.
