*Champaign police investigate armed robbery and aggravated battery with a firearm on Dorsey Drive*

Armed robbery and aggravated battery with a firearm were reported July 5 at the 1100 block of Dorsey Drive in Champaign.

Champaign police responded to the scene for a report of a shooting victim. The victim is a 41-year-old male, who was outside a residence in that block when he was attacked.

The victim reported being robbed of an undisclosed amount of cash and then shot by a male offender.

The victim has been transported to the Carle Emergency Room for treatment where he continues to receive medical attention.

The Champaign police continue their investigation into this case.

*Crowd fires on Ill. authorities with fireworks in downtown Peoria*

Peoria police and firefighters trying to get to a trash bin fire at a public housing complex on July Fourth say they were fired upon with commercial-grade fireworks and pelted with bottles.

Firefighters and a few police officers initially couldn’t get to the fire Monday night because of what he said were several hundred people watching fireworks being fired in the Taft Homes complex near downtown Peoria, police Officer Doug Burgess told Peoria’s WMBD Radio.

“Immediately once they got in they were fired on with commercial-grade fireworks and bottles were thrown at the police and firefighters,” he said.

Officers had to use launchers that fire pepper spray or pepper powder to disperse the crowd, Burgess said.

Several officers and firefighters were burned and one officer was treated at a local hospital, he said. No injuries were reported among the residents of the housing complex and no one was arrested.

“We had such a few number of officers in ratio to the number of people who were there,” Burgess said. “We could not risk losing an officer because he was arresting somebody. And, on top of that, the officers were getting fired upon from all sides they couldn’t see where it was coming from.”

Commercial-grade fireworks are frequently fired at the housing complex on July Fourth, he said, and police plan to review their security procedures before next summer’s holiday.

_Compiled from Associated Press and Daily Illini staff reports_