Late-night burglars hit at least two Lincoln Park businesses and several Lakeview garages this weekend. Here’s what we know:
• A crafty thief broke into a Lincoln Park Walgreens early on Friday, stuffed a duffle bag with cigarettes, and fled the scene. Company security detected the break-in at 1520 West Fullerton around 2:15 a.m.
Video images of the burglary show a black man in a hoodie, jeans, and white shoes jumping over the counter and helping himself to carton after carton of smokes. He was gone by the time cops arrived.
• Around 12:30 on Sunday morning, a burglar kicked in the glass door at Lincoln Park Gas, 2670 North Lincoln, and helped themselves to merchandise. A witness saw the burglary unfold, but the thief was gone too quickly for cops to make an arrest.
It’s the second time the store has been smash ‘n’ grabbed in the past three weeks.
Thieves busted into the gas station around 12:40 a.m. on April 28, too. At least three other businesses were hit that same night.
• Also burglarized early on Sunday was the Menard’s at 2601 North Clybourn. Employees arriving for work found that someone had broken into the store’s garden center overnight.
Lakeview Garage Break-Ins
• A garage burglar managed to escape from pursuing cops after a garage break-in in the 3700 block of North Greenview early Friday. A car parked inside the garage was ransacked for valuables.
• And another garage burglary crew escaped pursuing officers on Saturday afternoon. An officer was flagged down moments after four young thieves stole tools from a garage in the 3000 block of North Paulina around 12:30 p.m.
The officer chased after the thieves’ blue Chevy Malibu, but the bandits managed to slip away near Marshfield and Addison.
• Proving that thieves will take anything that’s not nailed down, police say the only thing taken during a garage burglary in the 1000 block of West Wolfram early Friday was a four-foot ladder.
All of the garage burglaries were classified as “unlawful entry,” which generally implies that unlocked doors or windows were used as access points.
