An armed robbery crew shot a man in Rogers Park on Thursday evening and then cooly continued their crime spree by robbing another victim in Uptown minutes later, police said.
And in a community alert issued just hours later, investigators said the robbers are responsible for several other armed hold-ups over the past week in Edgewater and near Pilsen.
“These guys are very dangerous,” a CPD source said in an email early Friday. Police are particularly concerned because the offenders dared to pull of Lake Shore Drive and rob yet another victim after they had just shot a man in the chest.
Last night’s violence began around 8:20 p.m. when the offenders robbed a victim 1300 block of West Thorndale.
Five minutes later, the men approached a 33-year-old man on the 6700 block of North Bosworth. One of the offenders pulled out a handgun and announced a robbery, the victim reported. Then, shots were fired.
Police said the victim was shot in the chest. A shell casing was found on the northeast corner of Bosworth and North Shore Avenue. And the entire shooting was recorded by a nearby police surveillance camera, according to the source.
An ambulance transported the man to St. Francis Hospital in Evanston where he is in serious condition.
After shooting the man, both offenders ran southbound on Bosworth and got into a dark sedan that sped from the area and got on Lake Shore Drive southbound.
But, the crew wasn’t done. The source said the robbers pulled off of Lake Shore Drive into the Uptown neighborhood around 8:35 p.m. There, they pulled out a gun and robbed a woman of her purse and Fitbit as she walked on the 1000 block of West Buena.
They then returned to their car and continued fleeing southbound on the drive.
Police said the crew of up to three offenders pulled off at least other robberies over the past week:
- in the 900 block of West 18th Place at 2:14 p.m. on Jan. 17
- in the 1800 block of South Morgan at 6:30 a.m. on Jan. 18
- in the 6100 block of North Glenwood at 11:23 p.m. on Tuesday
- in the 1100 block of West Cullerton at 12:05 a.m. on Wednesday
According to the community alert that police issued late last night, the robbers are black males between 16- and 30-years-old. But cops were given even more detailed descriptions to work with. One offender last night was said to be 16- to 20-years-old, 5’7” tall, wearing a dark-colored jacket with the hood up and camouflage pants. The other is taller and skinnier. He wore a green or dark hoodie with black pants.
The crew is using a stolen dark-colored four-door Ford sedan with black rims. It bears Illinois license plate BT9776.
Anyone with information about these offenders can contact Area North detectives at 312-744-8263 regarding alert #20-CWP-001.
