Five juveniles are in custody after a 21-year-old man was battered and robbed in Grant Park on Saturday afternoon, police said. Separately, two juvenile girls were arrested after allegedly attacking and robbing a woman in River North on Friday evening.
Saturday’s robbery took place at 2:23 p.m on the 1100 block of South Columbus near the Grant Park skate park, a CPD report said. Five boys confronted the man, and one of them hit the victim with an object, according to a CPD spokesperson. The group took the victim’s property and fled the scene.
Cops searched the area and rounded up five suspects identified by the victim. A police spokesperson said charges were pending Sunday.
In the River North case, two girls wearing pink pajama-style pants allegedly battered a woman on the 600 block of North State and took her phone around 10:10 p.m. Police stopped two suspects matching the offenders’ descriptions nearby, and they were identified as the attackers, according to a CPD report.
The victim was treated for a head injury. Her phone was also recovered, the report said.
Compared to this point last year, hold-ups have increased 31% in CPD’s Near North (18th) District, which includes River North. They are up 43% in the Central (1st) District, which includes the Loop and Grant Park, police records show. Citywide, robberies have inched slightly higher this year, but the two police districts that served downtown are seeing sharp increases.