A convicted murderer is among two men charged with burglary after a New Balance shoe store was looted Monday night in Lincoln Park.
Police responded quickly to calls of looting in progress at the store, 2369 North Clark, around 10:30 p.m. Another group of thieves targeted the nearby Urban Outfitters at the same time.
Video posted to Twitter shows two men running out of the New Balance store, getting into a red car, and speeding north on Clark just as the first police units arrive at the scene.
Witnesses provided officers with descriptions of several men and women who fled from the athletic shoe store in four cars, including a black Chevy Impala, prosecutors said in bond court Wednesday.
Cops spotted an Impala with four occupants nearby and pulled it over a short time later. Two occupants ran from the car and have not been caught, according to prosecutors. But two men did not get away.
Antonio Harris, age 46, and Caprise Stevenson, whose age was not immediately available, were taken into custody and charged with felony burglary.
Police said there were three boxes of New Balance shoes in the car’s back seat, next to where Harris was sitting. The store’s owner identified the shoes as merchandise that was stolen from the store, according to prosecutors.
Stevenson and Harris are charged with felony burglary.
Stevenson has seven prior felony convictions and seven prior misdemeanor convictions, according to statements made in bond court. Judge Arthur Willis released him on a recognizance bond after noting that no one specifically identified Stevenson as someone who ran from the store with merchandise.
Harris, who received a 25-year sentence for first-degree murder in 1999, told police that he knew the boxes of shoes were stolen, prosecutors said. His public defender highlighted the fact that Harris only said he knew the shoes were stolen but did not admit to taking them or breaking into the store.
He has been sent to prison for three felony drug convictions since being paroled in the murder case — once for four years in 2014 and two concurrent three-year sentences in 2016, prosecutors said.
Harris also has a pending felony criminal damage to government property case.
Willis set Harris’ bail at $5,000 for the burglary charge. He also ordered Harris held without bail for violating the terms of his bond in the pending criminal damage case.
