An armed robbery team used a carjacked sedan as they held up two people in less than 30 minutes Thursday evening on the North Side, according to a CPD report and a source. No arrests have been made as detectives try to determine if the robberies are part of a crime pattern that they warned the public about earlier in the week.
Around 9:10 p.m., a 22-year-old woman was walking on the 1900 block of North Hudson in Lincoln Park when a man got out of a dark blue Ford Fusion and pointed a handgun at her, Officer Ronald Westbrooks said. The victim, who was walking her dog, surrendered her purse and the offender returned to the car, which a second man drove.
Westbrooks said the gunman was a Black male who’s about 25-years-old. The suspect was wearing a black top and a black bandana that has white print on it, Westbrooks added. A CPD unit that saw the suspects in traffic before the robbery call came out said the getaway car had an Indiana license plate on the back.
Within minutes of the Lincoln Park robbery, a Lakeview man reported being robbed at gunpoint by two men who escaped in a blue sedan bearing Indiana plates, according to a separate CPD report. That victim told police he was near the intersection of Seminary and George when a man jumped out of the car, displayed a gun, and took his phone, wallet, and backpack.
Investigators have determined that the Ford Fusion was recently carjacked in southwest suburban Blue Island.
Area Three detectives are investigating both of Thursday’s robberies. This week, the same investigators released a community alert that warned about two armed robbers who used a blue sedan.
Around 1:45 a.m. Wednesday, May 26, a man and woman were in a car on the 100 block of West Superior when the offender and an accomplice robbed them, according to a CPD report. The victims, who sought help from a doorman at a nearby apartment building, said two offenders fled the scene eastbound on Superior in a blue sedan.
The robbers struck again around 1:55 a.m. Friday in the 400 block of West Oak Street, according to the alert.
Less than an hour after that robbery, another victim was robbed at gunpoint by men who fled in a black SUV near Byron and Lincoln in North Center. Detectives did not link the North Center hold-up to the other two cases in the alert, but a source said the cases have many similarities.
Police described the downtown robbers as two Black men between 20- and 30-years-old who stand 5’10” to 5’11” tall and weigh 150 to 200 pounds.
Anyone with information about robberies can contact Area Three detectives at 312-744-8263 about community alert #P21-3-067.