Police arrested four suspects and seized two guns after a woman reported being robbed at gunpoint on the Roosevelt Red Line station platform Sunday evening, according to a CPD report. Charges are pending.
Four offenders sat down next to the woman and surrounded her around 5:30 p.m and then pulled out two handguns while demanding her property, Officer Michelle Tannehill said.
With one of the guns pointed at her stomach, the victim handed over her distinctive Christian Dior handbag and watched as the crew escaped on a southbound train.
Police reviewed CTA surveillance footage of the robbery and dispatched the suspects’ descriptions to officers in the field. Cops detained a group of people matching the descriptions near the 47th Street Red Line station, Tannehill said. Officers found two handguns near the suspects.
On March 26, CWBChicago reported that city data shows violent crime along the Red Line is up sharply this year between Roosevelt and Howard despite significantly reduced ridership.
Robberies along that stretch of the L system were up 80% this year compared to the pre-COVID period of January 1 to March 15 of 2020. In fact, more robberies were been reported on that portion of the CTA system this year than in any year since at least 2015, despite suppressed ridership.
Because crimes are reported by CTA station addresses and not by train line, the dataset also includes incidents on other lines at stations they share with the Red Line.