Update: Prosecutors have charged a 17-year-old boy with two counts of armed robbery in connection with Tuesday’s hold-up, police said. Charges are still pending against three adults.
Now we’re talking!
Charges are pending after police followed the “pings” from a stolen phone to locate four suspects following an armed robbery in Lincoln Park on Tuesday evening. The hold-up bears similarities to other recent robberies, and police believe they found property from other hold-up victims in the suspects’ vehicle. Here’s what we know:
Around 8:54 p.m. Tuesday, two 18-year-old men told police they were grabbed and robbed by two offenders who both displayed handguns in the 2600 block of North Greenview, CPD spokesperson Kellie Bartoli said.
The robbers got away with the victims wallets and phones.
One of the victims was able to track his phone to near 2600 North Western, Bartoli said. Cops went there and pulled over a vehicle that was moving in concert with the phone’s movements.
Inside the vehicle, cops found a handgun, a replica firearm, the two victims’ property, and various cards and gift cards under different names, Bartoli said.
In recent weeks, several robbery victims have reported being held up or carjacked by two men who each brandished a firearm — a fairly unusual technique.
Saturday, a nurse told police that two men brandished guns in an apparent carjacking attempt near the intersection of Clark and Fullerton in Lincoln Park. The men got out of a silver vehicle, pointed guns at her as she sat in traffic, and pulled on her door handles around 6:30 a.m., she said. The carjacking failed, and the woman called police after she arrived for work at an area hospital.
Another driver was not so lucky about 90 minutes later in Wicker Park. The 38-year-old told police he was waiting for the light to change at the intersection of North, Damen, and Milwaukee when two men got out of a silver Jeep in front of him and pointed two guns at him.
The offenders ordered the man out of his Audi A5 and then drove away with it, followed by the silver Jeep.
Reports of hold-ups involving two gunmen go back to at least October 22 when a pair of 17-year-old boys were robbed in an alley near their home in the 1500 block of West Wellington. The teens told police that two men pointed guns to their faces and told them to turn around before taking their wallets, phones, and backpacks, according to CPD spokesperson Sally Bown.
Police have not specifically linked the robberies, but detectives did impound the suspects’ vehicle Tuesday night. All of the contents, including the various credit and gift cards, will be reviewed for connections to other cases.