A man fought off two robbers who brandished a gun in Boystown on Sunday night, police said. Separately, detectives are investigating a robbery in Ravenswood in which three men mugged a woman and stole her car Saturday evening.
Most recently, a 25-year-old man was on the 600 block of West Aldine when two male offenders demanded his belongings around 11:45 p.m., said Kellie Bartoli, a CPD spokesperson. They tried to take the man’s property, but a fight broke out instead. One of the offenders displayed a gun as the struggle continued, Bartoli said, but they eventually ran away without getting anything.
The victim did not need medical treatment, she said.
About 10 minutes later, a 911 caller reported that two males who strongly resembled the Aldine offenders tried to rob them at Roscoe and Halsted streets. Bartoli confirmed police responded to the call, but she said no report was filed.
Police searched for two suspects described as a young Black male wearing a hoodie or puffy jacket with an orange or yellow backpack and a short, stocky Hispanic male who wore a black hoodie. No arrests were made.
In the Ravenswood incident, three offenders approached a woman from behind on the 4500 block of North Paulina and demanded her property around 5:40 p.m. Saturday, Bartoli said. The group then used her car keys to unlock her orange Hyundai Tuscon, which they took.
No suspect descriptions are available for the Ravenswood robbery. Bartoli said the woman declined medical attention.
Area Three detectives are investigating both cases.
Both crimes unfolded in CPD’s Town Hall (19th) District, which saw a sharp spike in robberies in November and December. But police made a couple of arrests that appear to have disrupted the hold-up teams, which grew increasingly violent and culminated with three people being shot in separate robberies since December 30.
Through January 23, robberies in Town Hall were down sharply compared to every year since at least 2018, according to CPD data (PDF). The district recorded just nine robberies during the first 23 days of this month, compared to 21 in both last year and 2020.