Police: Possible link between suburban car thefts, O'Neal shooting

BOLINGBROOK, Ill. (WLS) -- Police in Naperville and Bolingbrook are looking into a possible link between a rash of car thefts and burglaries in the suburbs and the fatal police-involved shooting of Paul O'Neal in Chicago.

Investigators said O'Neal was one of the suspects in those burglaries and thefts. A 15-year-old boy has also been charged in those cases.

Bolingbrook police say just hours before O'Neal, 18, was shot by officers in Chicago he was captured on surveillance video at a gas station using a stolen credit card. Investigators said O'Neal came with several other people in stolen vehicles following car thefts in the village.

Bolingbrook police said they're now working with Naperville police on the investigation, as one of the stolen vehicles seen on the surveillance video came from Naperville.

Naperville police said two days before the shooting they had five cars reported stolen and 30 car break-ins in several neighborhood.

O'Neal was shot and killed in Chicago's South Shore neighborhood after investigators said he used a stolen car to strike two police cars. An autopsy revealed O'Neal was shot in the back. Chicago Police Superintendent Eddie Johnson stripped three officers of their police powers pending the outcome of the Independent Police Review Authority's investigation, saying department policies may have been violated.

IPRA will release video related to O'Neal's shooting Friday. The shooting itself was not captured on video.