Police are investigating at least four more robberies that were reported in Lakeview on Monday and early Tuesday. A fifth incident in nearby Lincoln Park is also under investigation. The robberies come as hold-ups spike in the area’s 19th (Town Hall) Police District.
Most recently, three offenders knocked a 40-year-old man to the ground, put him in a headlock, and tried to rob him as he walked near his Wrigleyville home. The man was at the intersection of Clifton and Grace streets when the offenders attacked him around 9:40 p.m., according to preliminary information from Chicago police. All three robbers fled in a four-door sedan that may be an Acura.
The crime was reported less than an hour after three men mugged a woman in nearby Boystown. She was close to Cornelia and Fremont streets when three young men robbed her of her purse and then ran toward Addison Street at 8:55 p.m. One of the woman’s credit cards was used at a nearby service station a few minutes later, leading police to believe that the offenders had a car.
Both victims said the robbers were Black males in their mid- to late teens, according to initial CPD information. One of the robbers in the Boystown case stands about 6’1” tall and weighs about 200 pounds. The other two were described as slimmer and about 5’7” tall.
Earlier in the day, two women were robbed in under 30 minutes — one in Boystown and the other in Lincoln Park. In both cases, a single offender robbed women of their phones.
Around 11:30 a.m., the offender ran past a woman and snatched a phone from her hand as she ate at a restaurant’s outdoor dining area in the 2500 block of North Clark, according to Officer Hector Alfaro, a CPD spokesperson. The woman was not injured.
A short time later, a similarly-described man stole a woman’s phone on the 3400 block of North Broadway. She also escaped injury.
In those two cases, the suspect was described as a Black male in his 20’s who stands about 6’2” tall and weighs about 180 pounds. He wore a hoodie that says “BROOKLYN” on the front.
In addition to all of those street robberies, an employee was battered during the robbery of 7-Eleven, 1425 West Montrose, around 1 a.m. Tuesday. Convenience store robberies are surging more than 100% citywide this year, according to the city’s data. More than 1 out of 10 robberies in the Town Hall district this year have been at convenience stores.
Street robberies in the district are also on the rise following a sharp decline during the early months of COVID. Three people were robbed in the Town Hall district on Saturday. This week, police released a community alert to warn about a robbery pattern in the normally-quiet North Center section of the district.
Facts first. 100% reader-funded. Click here to support CWBChicago today.
