Police are investigating a carjacking and two more armed robberies reported Friday evening on the North Side. No arrests have been made.
Two of the crimes were reported in the beleaguered Town Hall Police District, which has seen robberies soar nearly 150% over recent weeks when compared to last year.
First, a driver was carjacked after they got out of their vehicle following a minor traffic accident in Roscoe Village. The victim told police that a man driving a silver Toyota bumped into her car in the 3300 block of North Hoyne around 4:50 p.m. When the motorist got out of her car, a woman jumped into the driver’s seat of her silver Honda Elantra and sped away. The Toyota then fled westbound on School.
Later, two armed robberies were reported less than 30 minutes apart:
- Around 6:35 p.m., two offenders pulled out a gun and robbed a man near the victim’s home in the 3800 block of North Paulina in Lakeview. The robbers took the victim’s keys, ransacked his car, and took property from inside the vehicle before fleeing. He described the suspects as two Black men who stand about 5’9” tall and wore face masks with hoodies pulled over their heads.
- At approximately 7:08 p.m., two men robbed a 26-year-old man at gunpoint on the sidewalk in the 5000 block of North Rockwell near Lincoln Square. They demanded the victim’s property and got away with a backpack that contained a Nintendo Switch and other valuables, according to a CPD report. The men then ran eastbound on Winnemac. The victim said the robbers were two Black men in their mid-20’s.
Friday’s hold-ups are similar to a pair of armed robberies that were reported minutes apart along the Lakeview-Lincoln Park border Thursday evening:
- A 33-year-old man was approached by two men who displayed a handgun as he walked in the 1000 block of West Altgeld around 9:12 p.m., according to police spokesperson Kellie Bartoli. The robbers tried to grab the man as he ran away, but he managed to escape and the offenders fled. Private surveillance video showed the men get out of a black four-door SUV before the hold-up. The gunman was a younger Black male who wore a black hoodie.
- Around 9:20 p.m., two men robbed a victim at gunpoint near Sheffield and Wellington and then fled westbound.
Area Three detectives are investigating all of the reports.