An armed robbery and hijacking team has struck five times this month in Wicker Park and Bucktown, police said in a community alert. A sixth hold-up reported in Humboldt Park is also linked to the crew, according to Area Five detectives.
Police said two or three armed men are confronting victims on the street and ordering them to surrender their property and phone passwords at gunpoint. Two of the robberies turned into carjackings, according to CPD reports.
The first robbery unfolded on the 2300 block of West Wabansia at 9 p.m. on August 11. According to a report, two masked offenders approached a man and woman from behind and robbed them at gunpoint.
On August 12, three men pulled up in a black sedan and two got out with guns to rob a woman on the 1700 block of West LeMoyne at 1:45 p.m. They took her phone and purse, then fled in the car they arrived in.
The crew struck again on the 1700 block of North Milwaukee at 4 a.m. August 14 and on the 1400 block of North Elk Grove at 4:50 a.m. on August 15, the CPD alert said.
On August 16, a 52-year-old Uber driver was sitting in his car near the Damen Blue Line station around 2:37 a.m. when three men got out of a black sedan, and two of them forced him from his vehicle at gunpoint, according to a CPD statement. Two offenders drove away with the victim’s 2018 Hyundai, and the third followed in the sedan, police said.
Most recently, three men armed with multiple handguns robbed carjacked a man of his maroon Jeep Cherokee on the 2700 block of West Hirsch at 2:43 a.m. on August 17. Once again, the offenders arrived at the scene in a black sedan.
Police said the group consists of two or three Black males who stand 6-feet to 6’2″ tall. In one case, they were described as being between 20- and 30-years-old. They may be getting around in a black Nissan Sentra, according to information CPD released after the Uber driver was hijacked.
Anyone with information about the crimes can contact Area Five detectives at 312-746-7394 about crime pattern #P21-5-058.
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