"It's a very quiet little town. Nothing happens here," said Bannockburn resident Lorrie Daube.
That was true until Friday when a man was found shot to death, his body left at the end of a drive-way in a secluded cul-de-sac in north suburban Bannockburn.
Police first learned of the ghastly discovery around 4:30 a.m. Friday and quickly converged on the area to find a white male in his 30s who had suffered two gunshot wounds.
Several homeowners told officers they heard two strange popping noises early in the morning.
"I wasn't sure if they were shots or a backfire of a car. I looked around through all the windows and didn't see anything unusual. Four or five minutes later, the paper boy delivered the paper. Everything looked normal, the way it should look. So, I went back to bed," said Peter Lederer, also a neighborhood resident.
The newspaper delivery man found the victim and called police. The Lake County major crimes taskforce joined the investigation and says the victim is not from the area and wasn't visiting relatives or friends when he was attacked.
Bannockburn Police Chief Kevin Tracz says, because a state highway runs through the town and it's close to a toll road, some crime finds it way to the upscale community.
"The assumption, on my part, is that someone was travelling on the highway, pulled off on a side street, some type of altercation ensued, then the person was shot," Tracz said.
The homicide happened in the subdivision once home to former Chicago Bears coach Mike Ditka and was the first in the 80-year history of the affluent south Lake County town of about 2,000. Town officials say residents are aware but not worried about Friday's violence.
"It's a just sad thing to happen. It's really out of our control. Hopefully, everyone continues with their everyday lives," Bannockburn Village Trustee Jim Boyle said.
Police say they did not find a weapon at the scene, but they did find shell casings.
No one was in police custody Friday evening.
