Police are investigating two robberies in which groups of people reportedly attacked victims on the Red Line downtown Sunday evening. Officers detained a suspect after the second incident.
Around 6:30 p.m., three men pushed and robbed a 20-year-old man of his phone as he stood on the Jackson Red Line platform, 230 South State, according to a police report. A police spokesperson said the victim was not injured and the robbers got away. CPD did not release descriptions of the suspects.
Then, around 9 p.m., a man and his girlfriend were physically attacked and robbed by five or six assailants on a Red Line train between the Lake and Monroe stations, a second police report said. Police took one suspect, a woman, into custody at the Jackson platform a short time later. The others got away.
Nearly one-third of all robberies reported in the Central (1st) Police District this year have occurred on the CTA train system, according to the city’s data portal. That compares to 27% last year, 24% in 2020, and 22% in 2019, the most recent year not affected by COVID.
As of March 12, the Jackson Red Line and the Roosevelt station saw seven robberies each this year. Roosevelt, a much larger station, serves the Red, Orange, and Green Line.
Police have been making arrests for some of the crimes, too:
- Xavier Lyons, on parole for a Lakeview robbery, was one of three offenders who robbed a man at gun- and knifepoint on the Red Line at Roosevelt on February 22, prosecutors said.
- Christopher Bennett, 18, is charged with recent robberies on the Red Line at Chicago Avenue and Harrison as well as a robbery on the Green Line at Central.
- Nygel Goodman, 20, and two juveniles attacked and robbed a Red Line passenger on a train at Jackson on March 3, prosecutors said.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot, CPD Supt. David Brown, and CTA President Dorval Carter announced plans on March 9 for yet another security initiative to address ongoing crime issues across the city’s transit system.
Last year on CTA, murders increased 33% from 3 to 4; shootings rose from 4 to 11; sexual assaults soared from 4 to 11; robberies jumped from 453 to 492, and stabbings increased from 41 to 51.
During the March 9 press conference, Brown claimed crime on CTA declined 11% last year. In fact, it did. For example, police made 62 fewer narcotics arrests. There were 31 fewer deceptive practice cases (turnstile jumpers, mostly); CTA filed 172 fewer graffiti complaints, and 88 fewer people were arrested for trespassing.