A group of armed robbers, including at least one who brandishes a rifle, robbed four people in Lakeview on Tuesday evening, police said. According to a source, investigators suspect the robbery crew is also responsible for a series of armed robberies and carjackings in the city over the past three days.
Here’s what we’ve learned:
Around 7:15 p.m. Tuesday, two men got out of a white Jeep Cherokee and robbed a 24-year-old woman who was unloading her car in the 600 block of West Grace, according to CPD. One robber brandished a handgun and the other displayed a rifle, police said.
The offenders took the woman’s grocery bags, a purse, phone, and keys to her car. Cops determined that the Jeep was taken in an armed hijacking earlier Tuesday on the Lower West Side.
About five minutes after the robbery on Grace, three men got out of a white Jeep Cherokee on the 900 block of West Sheridan and robbed two 24-year-old women and a 30-year-old man, according to a police statement.
They took the victims’ phones, cash, credit cards, and a purse before fleeing in the SUV. A fourth offender stayed in the vehicle during the robbery, police said.
Then, around 8 p.m., four armed men robbed a man and woman at gunpoint in the 200 block of West 24th Street in Chinatown. The offenders got out of a white SUV and took the victims’ phones, credit cards, and a gold chain, according to a CPD report.
Police are now working to determine if the robbery crew is the same group that pulled off three armed robberies around Chinatown, Bridgeport, and Armour Square early Monday.
In those hold-ups, three males robbed and carjacked victims while displaying multiple weapons, including at least one rifle. A CWB reader who saw images of Monday’s offenders on a Chinatown-area neighborhood watch group shared the photos with us Tuesday night after hearing about the Lakeview hold-ups.
The robbers have been generally described as young Black males who are skinny and stand about 5’8” tall.
Chicago police detectives are investigating all of the robberies.