Five people, including a 12-year-old boy and two 14-year-old boys, chased and tried to rob a man in Lincoln Park on Monday night, according to police. The incident unfolded about 45 minutes after five people brutally beat, kicked, and robbed another man just a few blocks away in Lakeview. Detectives are working to determine if the same group committed both crimes.
Around 10:15 p.m., a 42-year-old man was walking on Oakdale Avenue, just east of Clark Street, when he saw a group of five people wearing masks and hoodies running down the street.
When they reached the 2900 block of North Clark, the group turned around and ran toward the man, then physically attacked him, a police spokesperson said. While the man was down, the group went through his pockets and took his valuables, according to police.
A witness said he heard the attack unfolding and “turned around to see [them] stamping on the face” of a man who was on the ground.
“I yelled at them as they were rifling through his pockets and they made off with his phone,” the witness said. “The victim’s face was a mess, very badly swollen from the beating and bleeding heavily.”
EMS took the victim to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center, according to the police spokesperson. His condition is not known.
“This whole thing took under a minute and was just brutal,” said the witness.
Then, at 11:02 p.m., five offenders approached a 36-year-old man on the 2700 block of North Pine Grove and demanded his property. That’s not far from where the first attack took place.
The victim ran away and the group chased after him, but they weren’t able to catch up, according to the police. He called 911 and cops stopped three suspects on the 2700 block of North Clark a few minutes later. The victim identified all three as being part of the group that tried to rob him.
CPD’s spokesperson said a 12-year-old boy is charged with attempted robbery and two 14-year-old boys are charged with attempted robbery and obstructing identification. One of the older boys also had an outstanding warrant.
Both incidents occurred in the Lakeview-based Town Hall (19th) Police District where robberies are up 29% this year compared to the same time last year, according to CPD’s latest CompStat report, the department’s internal statistics tracker.
Robberies in Town Hall are also running 28% ahead of 2020, 30% ahead of 2019, and 22% ahead of 2018, according to CompStat.