A thief who wears a distinctive jacket may be responsible for two robberies Saturday morning on and near the Red Line—one in Uptown, the other in Lakeview.
Around 6:30 a.m., witnesses saw a man steal an elderly woman’s purse near the intersection of Argyle and Winthrop, about a half-block from the Argyle Red Line station. A police camera operator watched as the offender entered the Argyle station and boarded a southbound Red Line train.
The man exited at the Wilson Red Line station and slipped away. Responding officers were also unable to find the victim to file a report.
Then, around 8:55 a.m., a man wrestled away a woman’s leather backpack as they rode a northbound Red Line train. The offender slipped off at the Sheridan stop. But the woman was unable to exit at the same station, so she reported the incident to an officer when the train stopped at Wilson Avenue.
The offender in both robberies was described as a black male wearing a bright yellow jacket. The Sheridan victim said he stands about 5’10” tall, has brown eyes and was wearing dark pants with black shoes.