Chicago police have detained a 19-year-old man for questioning in connection with a series of armed robberies that has stunned the North Side this month, including the vicious robbery and shooting of 23-year-old Dakotah Earley in Lincoln Park, according to law enforcement sources.
Investigators caught a break in the robbery cases when cops found a link between the hold-ups and a shooting near Millennium Park on Tuesday evening. A source called the link “definitive.”
Bringing charges in some robberies is anticipated, but the sources earlier this week cautioned that compiling everything necessary to win a prosecutor’s approval for charges in Earley’s shooting may take time.
Police have recorded as many as 20 armed robberies with similar characteristics between Lincoln Park and Rogers Park since the nighttime crime sprees began on May 3. In nearly all cases, victims reported that robbers wearing ski masks confronted them at gunpoint as they were walking.
One robber fired shots at a man who ran away while they tried to rob him on the 2600 block of North Bosworth, according to an internal CPD report. Two days later, an armed robber ambushed Earley as he walked near the intersection of Webster and Wayne in Lincoln Park. A horrifying surveillance video showed a gunman shooting Earley three times at close range while demanding his phone password.
Doctors at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center removed part of Earley’s leg due to complications from the shooting, according to his family’s frequent updates on GoFundMe. But, the family said, he is no longer on life support and surgeons also successfully removed a bullet that was lodged in his jaw.
They said he remained in good spirits.
Previous coverage
- Man, 23, critically wounded in Lincoln Park shooting (May 6, 2022)
- Video: Armed robber shoots man 3x in Lincoln Park after demanding phone password (May 6, 2022)
- 2 nights of armed robberies across Lakeview and Lincoln Park ends with victim critically injured by gunman (May 6, 2022)
- ‘This lawlessness has to be stopped!’ Alderman demands action after a man is shot, gravely wounded during North Side robbery spree (May 6, 2022)
- Lincoln Park shooting, robbery victim is identified in GoFundMe campaign (May 6, 2022)
- Robbers who shot a man in Lincoln Park also fired shots at another victim Wednesday, CPD report says (May 7, 2022)
- Lincoln Park shooting victim is on life support, family says: ‘We ARE NOT and WILL NOT lose hope or faith for Dakotah’ (May 7, 2022)
- 2 more men robbed at gunpoint in Lincoln Park overnight (May 9, 2022)
- Another armed robbery reported in Lincoln Park, Lakeview area this morning. Witness says a gunman threatened to shoot them if they helped the victim (May 9, 2022)
- Armed crews rob 4 more people in Lakeview overnight as violent hold-up pattern grows (May 10, 2022)
- 3 more armed robberies reported on North Side as cops explore a possible link to a shooting near “The Bean” (May 11, 2022)
- Cops find ‘definitive’ link between Dakotah Earley case and a shooting near The Bean: sources (May 12, 2022)
- At least 6 more people robbed at gunpoint overnight as North Side armed robbery surge rolls on (May 14, 2022)
- Lincoln Park shooting victim is off life support, but has lost part of his leg, family says (May 14, 2022)