Six people were robbed at gunpoint in a series of four hold-ups across Lakeview and North Center late Sunday night and early Monday. Police were able to track the suspects down by following pings from one of the victim’s stolen cell phones.
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| Madden (Chicago Police Dept) |
Two offenders have been charged.
19-year-old Willie Madden of the Garfield Park neighborhood is charged with four counts of robbery and one count of criminal trespass to vehicle. An unnamed male juvenile has been charged with one of the robberies and criminal trespass to vehicle.
Madden, the juvenile, and two others who have not yet been charged allegedly approached men and women on the street, brandished one or more handguns, and took the victims’ property, including phones, tablets, wallets, and other valuables, according to police.
The first victim, Lakeview real estate agent Karrin Algas, was robbed at 11:35PM. She wrote about her experience on Facebook:
So, it’s 6 a.m. and I’m sitting at the police station with the 5 other victims of this robbery rampage.
These kids were driving around in a stolen car robbing people at gun point. I was the first one of the night. All 4 [offenders] surrounded me a half block from my home on Leavitt, gun to my head, and a barely audible mutter to give them everything.
I dropped [my] purse and phone and got away. They grabbed the stuff and disappeared around the corner.
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| The locations of the four robberies (red) and of the suspects’ arrests (blue). |
Less than a minute after Algas was held up, a man called 911 after being robbed by two offenders in the 3700 block of N. Ravenswood. The offenders threw a stack of Algas’ business cards from the car as they sped away from the scene.
Two more robberies were reported about an hour later—in the 1800 block of W. Patterson at 12:30AM and in the 1100 block of W. Grace at 12:35AM.
Cops tracking one of the Grace victim’s stolen cellphone pings found all four suspects at the BP service station on Belmont and Racine. Their get-away car, stolen Saturday in Logan Square, was also recovered.
For Algas, the night was filled with mixed emotions:
I got my phone back and a couple of cards…On the other side of the lobby are some family members of the perpetrators.
I cant help but feel bad for these mothers. They are sitting there watching us. Most of the victims are now joking around and somewhat slap happy. But they… the perpetrators moms, aunts, grandmothers…they sit there knowing that their lives have changed forever.
Their little boys are going to jail. What a way to spend Memorial Day.
