A woman was pushed to the ground and robbed in Lakeview overnight. At least three other robberies have been reported in the immediate area recently.
Officer Jose Lemus-Cortez said the 24-year-old woman was walking on the 1400 block of West Melrose Street when a man walked toward her and yelled for her to come toward him around 1:45 a.m.
The woman did not follow the man’s instructions, so he got closer and shoved her to the ground, Lemus-Cortez said. After taking the woman’s Kate Spade purse, the offender ran west on Melrose.
He is described as a Hispanic man wearing all black clothing and a face mask who stands about 5’11” tall.
Sunday’s robbery is the latest in a string of muggings in the neighborhood, although there are no apparent links between the crimes:
Around 9:25 p.m. on September 28, two women were sitting inside a car on the 1200 block of West Nelson when two robbers walked up and one of them opened the driver’s side door, said CPD spokesperson Kellie Bartoli. The man pulled the woman from the driver’s seat, threw her to the ground, and began striking her with an object, Bartoli said. Both offenders then demanded valuables from the women, who complied. Police did not release the offenders’ descriptions.
At 10:50 p.m. on September 23, three men displayed two handguns and ordered a couple to hand over their property on the 1200 block of West Wellington. They then searched the victims for valuables, Officer Jessica Rocco said.
The victims, a 26-year-old man and a 22-year-old woman, reported the robbery in person at the Town Hall Police District station, 850 West Addison. Shortly after they arrived at the station, another robbery occurred on the 2300 block of North Damen, and police found one of the Lakeview victims’ phones near the scene.
The robbers were described as three Black males in their mid-20s who wore all black clothing. One of them wore a green bandana, and his hoodie had a white and yellow logo on it.
In another incident, a man implied that he had a gun as he robbed a woman of her phone near the intersection of Lincoln and Southport on the evening of September 25. He is described as a White or Native American man who’s in his 30’s. He’s about 6’2” tall with long black hair, and he wore a black headband that said “survivor” with a dark blue sweatshirt.
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