Update October 27, 2021: Charges filed.
Another online sale meet-up turned into an armed robbery on Saturday afternoon in Lakeview, according to a CPD report. Later, two people were shot on the Northwest Side when they tried to rip off a man who thought they were coming over to buy a gaming console that he offered for sale online, police said.
The incidents come after three people were robbed over the past week in separate incidents on the same block in Old Town when they traveled there to sell items to people they met online.
In the Lakeview case, a man made online arrangements to sell his PlayStation to a buyer who agreed to come to the 3100 block of North Sheridan around 6:45 p.m. to complete the deal. But the prospective buyer and another man displayed a gun and robbed the victim of the gaming console instead when they arrived.
According to the victim, they escaped in an older model four-door red car, possibly a Chevy Impala, that was occupied by two other people. He described one of the primary offenders as a Black male who wore a blue hoodie with blue jeans.
Then, shortly after 10 p.m., a 15-year-old boy and a 19-year-old man arranged to buy a gaming console from a 29-year-old man on the 3600 block of North Octavia in Dunning.
But the 15-year-old grabbed the console from the victim and began to walk back toward their car without paying for it, police said. According to police, the victim ran after him until he realized the 19-year-old was pointing a gun at him from inside the vehicle.
The victim pulled out his own firearm and shot the boy in the head and the 19-year-old in the shoulder, police said. Both offenders, whom a source said appear to be relatives, arrived at Community First Hospital in the car they drove to the meeting site.
Doctors transferred the boy to Lurie Children’s Hospital in critical condition. The man was transferred to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in fair condition. Both were under police guard.
Detectives were interviewing the victim late Saturday.
The Dunning suspects do not match the descriptions of the Lakeview robbers.
Old Town cases
CWBChicago reported Friday that two people were robbed at gunpoint this week when they went to the 1600 block of North Orchard to sell electronics to people they met online.
On Saturday, CPD released a community alert about those two incidents and said a third case was reported last weekend.
Most recently, a 21-year-old woman went to the 1600 block of North Orchard around 6:15 p.m. Thursday to sell a used iPhone to someone she met online. Two men confronted her on the street. One put a gun to her head while the other ordered her to turn over the phones, Officer Ronald Westbrook said.
She handed over two phones, and the offenders fled into a nearby alley. The robbers were male, Black, 15- to 20-years-old, and about 6-feet tall. One of them wore a Rick and Morty sweatshirt.
A similar scenario unfolded around 3:05 p.m. Wednesday, Westbrooks said.
A 20-year-old man met someone online and agreed to sell them an iPad. Moments before the meeting, the victim received a message saying the other party’s friend would pick up the iPad instead. As soon as the victim confirmed that a man standing on the 1600 block of North Orchard was the “friend,” another person came around a corner and displayed a handgun, Westbrooks said.
The two men took all of the victim’s property and ran into a nearby alley. Westbrooks said the suspects are two Black males between 18- and 20-years-old who stand about 6’1″ tall. One wore all black clothing while the other wore black pants with white gym shoes.
According to the community alert, another victim was robbed at the same location during a botched online sale during the afternoon of September 16.
Anyone with information about the Orchard Street incidents can call Area Three detectives at 312-744-8263 about crime pattern #P21-3-115.
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