An armed robbery crew swept through Chinatown on Saturday evening, taking just ten minutes to rob at least four people in three separate hold-ups, according to Chicago police. Then, they headed to River North and pulled off two more armed heists.
As if all of that isn’t bad enough, a CPD report indicates that a backpack they took from one of the Chinatown victims contained a handgun.
The robberies followed a similar pattern, according to an alert issued by Area Three detectives on Wednesday afternoon. Two or three men confronted the victims and demanded all of their valuables while displaying at least one handgun.
According to the alert and police reports:
- Three men robbed a man and woman of their wallets, cash, and keys on the 200 block of West Alexander at 8:45 p.m. The offenders tried to drive away with the couple’s rental car, but they abandoned that effort for some reason and fled in a red SUV.
- Two men used a handgun to rob a woman in a parking lot on the 2100 block of South Archer at 8:50 p.m. They got away with a purse, two phones, and a wallet.
- At 8:55 p.m., two men robbed a woman at gunpoint on the 2300 block of South Wentworth. A third offender remained in a red SUV nearby.
The crew then moved downtown to commit two more hold-ups:
- Four men robbed a woman and her boyfriend at gunpoint in front of a hotel on the 100 block of West Grand at 10:35 p.m.
- Three men approached two victims who were in a car on the 200 block of West Kinzie and robbed them at gunpoint at 10:47 p.m.
According to the community alert, the suspects are Black males between 18- and 30-years-old who wore dark hoodies and face masks.
Anyone with information about the crew can contact investigators at 312-747-8284 about crime pattern #21-CWP-019.
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