Update 11:08 a.m. — Police this morning arrested a suspect at the Roosevelt CTA station. An airgun pistol was found in his backpack, according to a Tweet by CPD’s Mass Transit Unit. (Story here.)
The man who police say pistol-whipped Blue Line passengers in Bucktown and the West Loop earlier this week was Thursday morning at train stations in the Loop, Lincoln Park, and Lakeview, according to internal CPD communications. But he managed to stay a step ahead of responding officers.
Police first responded to a “person with a gun” call at the Roosevelt Green Line station around 9:10 a.m. Thursday. At 10:30 a.m., a similarly-described man reportedly brandished a gun on a northbound train at Fullerton station in Lincoln Park. The train continued to Belmont, where witnesses reported seeing the man leave the station before police arrived.
CPD’s operations nerve center, the Crime Prevention and Information Center, confirmed that the man seen Thursday was the same person who pistol-whipped passengers at the Clinton Blue Line station Monday morning and the Western Blue Line station Wednesday morning, according to CPD communications shared with CWBChicago.
The man’s clothes have changed daily, but he has consistently carried a black backpack that held his gun on at least two occasions, according to police reports.
CPD’s Mass Transit Unit released new images of the man at one of the stations on Thursday. Anyone with information about the man can contact Public Transportation detectives at 312-745-4443.
Around 6:54 a.m. Monday, a 21-year-old man was sitting on the Clinton Blue Line platform when the offender walked up and struck him in the head with a handgun, Officer Steve Rusanov said. The attacker then allegedly boarded a train toward Forest Park.
An EMS crew treated the victim at the scene for an injury to his right ear.
On Wednesday, a 39-year-old woman was riding a northbound Blue Line train when a man struck her in the head and arm with a handgun around 9:03 a.m., police said. He reportedly exited at the Western station.
The victim was taken to St. Mary’s Hospital in good condition.
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