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| Xavier Lyons was arrested on the southbound Red Line platform on Thursday afternoon. | CPD; File |
Chicago police have identified the alleged robbery offender that police pulled from a Red Line train at the Belmont station on Thursday afternoon.
Xavier Lyons, 18, of the Grand Boulevard neighborhood is charged with felony armed robbery and misdemeanor possession of a pellet gun, according to a press release by CPD’s Office of News Affairs.
Just before 3 p.m. yesterday, a 27-year-old woman told police that an armed man approached her in the 3100 block of North Kenmore and demanded her phone at gunpoint. The woman did not turn over her phone, police said, but the man did get the victim’s debit card.
Responding officers searched the Belmont Red Line station and found a man matching the suspect’s description on a southbound train.
“As the doors closed, one of the officers literally pulled open the doors. They reached in and they pulled the offender out,” 19th District (Town Hall) Cmdr. Marc Buslik said at a press conference.
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| Town Hall Police District Cmdr Mark Buslik (center) and officers who assisted with the arrest of Xavier Lyons | CPD |
A group of Town Hall police officers happened to be working near the Belmont Red Line on a mission to suppress thefts from automobiles, according to Buslik. The team broke from that assignment to handle the robbery when the call was dispatched.
“In this district,” Buslik said, “we’re finding that the Red Line is a common element in some of these robberies.”
Lyons is due in bond court this afternoon. Police records show that Lyons was arrested in the Loop on December 19th and charged with having a weapon on the CTA. He was released on a recognizance bond in that case.
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