At least 6 more people robbed at gunpoint overnight as North Side armed robbery surge rolls on

An armed robbery team robbed at least six people in less than two hours on the North Side early Saturday, Chicago police said. The cases appear to be related to an ongoing surge of similar crimes stretching from Lincoln Park to Rogers Park that have sometimes been extremely violent.

The robberies began shortly after midnight when two masked men, one of whom had a gun, stepped out of an SUV the 5500 block of North Kenmore in Edgewater. They confronted a 44-year-old man and took his phone and cash.

At 12:30 a.m., another victim robbed nearby on the 5600 block of North Kenmore.

The approximate locations of Saturday’s robberies (blue) and similar incidents that have been reported since May 11. | Multiplottr

Then, at 12:53 a.m., a gray SUV rolled up next to a woman and her boyfriend walking on the 2100 block of West Birchwood in Rogers Park. Two men got out of the car and robbed the victims, both 21-years-old, at gunpoint, a CPD spokesperson said. The crew took the couple’s phones, a wallet, and a watch, then fled in the SUV.

About 20 minutes later, back in Edgewater, an SUV stopped on the 5800 block of North Winthrop and a man got out of it with a handgun. He confronted a 53-year-old man who was walking down the street, pressed the firearm to the man’s face, and robbed him, the police spokesperson said. The victim suffered an abrasion to his left eyelid from the gun, but he refused medical attention, police said.

Then, at 1:15 a.m., someone on the driver’s side of a tan SUV tried to grab a 58-year-old woman’s property as the vehicle passed her on the 5600 block of North Broadway, the spokesperson said. They didn’t get her things and the woman tried to run away. But two men got out of the SUV, followed her, and demanded her property at gunpoint, the spokesperson said.

Then, the crew apparently moved to Lakeview. Around 1:30 a.m., a man wearing a mask entered the BP station, 841 West Irving Park Road, and one of them ordered a customer to leave the store while flashing a gun. The men left in a gray SUV bearing the same license plate as the car used in the Birchwood robbery, according to a source.

A source said a group of men who have been robbing people across the North Side since May 11 are likely responsible for Saturday’s hold-ups. The group pulled off a series of late night and early morning robberies in Lakeview and Lincoln Park, including one that ended with a 23-year-old man being critically wounded when a robber shot him three times while demanding his phone password.

The robbers moved north to Uptown and Edgewater on Tuesday.

Typically, the group pulls off a series of four to five street robberies in a concentrated area while traveling in a silver or gray SUV. They have also been seen using at least one Toyota Camry.

In a community alert issued after this story originally appeared, police said Saturday’s robbers are two Black men between 18- and 30-years-old with slim builds who wore dark clothing and black ski masks.

The alert did not publicly link the latest waves of robberies to earlier incidents in Lakeview and Lincoln Park. Police described those suspects in a May 6 community alert as Black males between 16- and 30-years-old who wear ski masks.

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