Chicagoist Weekend Blotter

By Shannon in News on Dec 10, 2006 10:00PM

We interrupt our gingerbread-baking schedule to give you the following stories:

In a horrible but entirely preventable tragedy, a Metra train struck a minivan in Elgin on Friday afternoon, killing two adult sisters and an infant. Witnesses said the van tried to circumvent the lowered crossing gates. The train dragged the Dodge Caravan for approximately 150 feet. Five more van occupants, a third sister and four children, were taken to area hospitals; one of the children then had to be airlifted to a trauma center. No one on the train was injured, but Metra service stopped for nearly six hours, on the same night as the shooting downtown.

A 20-year-old woman was shot in the face Friday morning while waiting for a South Side bus. Victoria Johnson ended up in between two men firing shots at one another outside of Altgeld Gardens on 133rd Street. According to a police spokesman, the area has become a hotspot for gang activity. Her condition at Advocate Christ Medical Center is listed as critical.

A 15-year-old boy stabbed a 14-year-old female classmate in the thigh on Thursday at Portage High School in northwest Indiana. He threatened the girl with a knife he'd brought to school; she didn't believe he had one. He pulled the knife out and gave her a wound requiring three stitches. When questioned by the school, he denied the incident and was therefore let go. Police later spoke to the girl and apprehended the stabber at a nearby hair salon.

And for the "ewww" story of the week, a 27-year-old Will County man was charged Thursday with animal abuse after police found he was having sex with his mother's dog. A tipoff notified police of Dwayne Page's behavior; when they questioned him, he revealed he had "ongoing" sexual contact with Pepper, an 18-year-old cockapoo. Page was already registered as a sex offender at his mother's home for indecent solictation of a child. From children to an elderly pooch ... you can't say he doesn't run the sick-fuck gamut.

Image courtesy of ten-nine.