Trustee Ready to Yank Chuck E. Cheese’s Business License If Related To Saturday’s Shooting

OAK LAWN, IL -- Oak Lawn Mayor Sandra Bury and Village Trustee Terry Vorderer are calling a document and video review to determine if a shooting late Saturday evening is related in any way to Oak Lawn’s troubled Chuck E Cheese restaurant.

The Chicago man injured by gunfire as he drove eastbound down 95th Street around 9 p.m. Saturday, told Evergreen Park police that he was leaving Chuck E. Cheese’s, 4031 W. 95th St., in Oak Lawn, when approached by a black SUV.

The shooting is being investigated by the Evergreen Park Police Department. Bury and Vorderer have requested that Oak Lawn police be allowed to review reports and video surveillance.

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It is still not known if the Oak Lawn restaurant is any way tied to the shooting, which took place several blocks away near 95th Street and Spaulding Avenue in Evergreen Park. Bury and Vorderer, in whose fourth district Chuck E. Cheese’s is located, both issued a joint statement on the mayor’s Facebook page.

“Trustee Vorderer and I have informed all members of the Village Board and our legal team and have requested from [Oak Lawn] Police Chief [Michael] Murray all relevant documents and videos. Should these documents confirm that Oak Lawn's Chuck E Cheese is connected to this incident, we have jointly requested that proceedings begin immediately in accordance with our municipal code.”

According to Evergreen Park police, the man said he was at 95th Street and Pulaski Road in traffic when his vehicle was approached by a black SUV. Someone in the SUV began shooting at his vehicle, wounding him in the lip and lower back.

The man drove himself to Advocate Christ Medical Center in Oak Lawn, when police were notified that a person showed up in the ER with a gunshot wound. Police shut down several blocks of 95th Street between Homan and Kedzie Avenues Saturday evening looking for evidence related to the shooting.

A police source told Patch that the man’s vehicle was shot at 13 times. The Chicago man also reportedly had a minor in the vehicle. Police said the injured man has since stopped cooperating with the investigation.

Calling Chuck E. Cheese’s a “political firecracker” in Oak Lawn, Vorderer said the latest incident from Saturday has forced him to make a move if a police investigation is able to verify that the man had been at the children’s fun emporium before the shooting. Calls have already been made to the village attorneys.

“We’ve given them every due process and chance to solve their problems,” Vorderer said. “I want to take action and have been discussing this with the mayor about making a motion to the village board to begin proceedings to revoke Chuck E. Cheese’s business license, if the facts are confirmed through a police investigation.”

Vorderer has been working with the district's residents and CEC representatives since taking office in 2013 to address Chuck E. Cheese’s ongoing public safety issues, which for years has been the scene of physical and verbal altercations requiring police intervention. His citizens’ committee is set to meet for first time Dec. 8 to assess the Chuck E. Cheese’s progress to improve security at the restaurant.

“I’m not waiting until Dec. 8,” Vorderer said. “As soon as I can take it to the board based on confirmation that this person was a patron at Chuck E. Cheses’s, I am prepared and will take action if it’s confirmed.”

CEC representatives met with Oak Lawn officials following an incident in August, where an off-duty village police officer working security at the restaurant was reportedly assaulted by Chuck E. Cheese’s patrons. CEC voluntarily surrendered its village liquor license in 2014 after a donnybrook in the parking lot was captured on video.

Trustees voted to put off proceedings to revoke Chuck E. Cheese’s business licenses after corporate officials presented a beefed up security plan during a village board meeting in October.