Slain Shorewood Man Identified: Coroner

ELWOOD, IL — The Will County Coroner's Office has identified the 30-year-old Shorewood man found shot to death in Elwood as Robert Bigger. The homicide victim was killed inside his car early Friday morning near the CenterPoint Intermodal Center. Elwood police are investigating the man's death as a homicide.

Elwood police had Baseline Road closed between Arsenal and Noel Roads as detectives and crime scene technicians investigated the violent crime. The roads in and out of CenterPoint were blocked off on Friday morning by police and would remain so until early Friday afternoon.

Elwood Police Chief Fred Hayes said Baseline Road would be shut down as police examined the area for clues.

"This is a logistics, industrial warehouse area," Hayes said. "We think, more than likely, the victim worked in this area."

Hayes told Patch that a passerby called 911 around 4:40 a.m. after spotting the car that looked to be disabled. The passerby told police they first spotted the vehicle as they drove past the area around 3:30 a.m. When the passerby drove by again around an hour later, they saw that the car was still there and decided to call police.

"It appears someone came along on the side of the vehicle and opened fire," Hayes said. "He was definitely shot multiple times."

The victim was driving southbound along Baseline at the time he was killed, Hayes said.

Hayes said the victim drove a Chevy passenger car. The car remained on the scene late Friday morning as evidence technicians processed it.

"He said he had passed that vehicle at the same location forty minutes to an hour earlier and thought it was kind of unusual," Hayes told Joliet Patch's editor late Friday morning.

Hayes said police believe the victim may work in the area. His name is expected to be released later in the day Friday.

Hayes said this marks the first homicide in the village of Elwood since 2009. That slaying involved a domestic, he said.

In Friday's overnight homicide, it appears that the gunman pulled right up to the Shorewood man's car and opened fire, Hayes said.

Anyone who may have seen anything suspicious near Baseline and Noel Road is asked to call Elwood Police at 815-423-5411.