A group of armed robbers struck twice in about 15 minutes late Friday and early Saturday in Lakeview, according to Chicago police. Cops tracked the group to the Lawndale neighborhood and recovered their getaway car, but the suspects themselves slipped away.
The first victim, a 20-year-old man, was targeted as he walked in the 2900 block of North Pine Grove around 11:50 p.m. A CPD spokesperson said three men confronted him with a handgun, demanded his property, and forced him to give up his phone password. The group escaped in a car.
Then, just after midnight, three robbers stepped out of a dark-colored car and put a gun to a 31-year-old man’s head as he stood in an alley behind the 1000 block of West Barry.
CPD’s helicopter tracked the getaway car to a McDonald’s in Cicero, but the offenders slipped away from the suburb’s cops and fled into the city, where they crashed the vehicle in the 4100 block of West 16th Street and ran into a building, according to police radio transmissions.
The suspects are all Black males who appeared to be in their teens, according to officers. They wore dark hoodies and jeans.
Robberies continue to be a problem in the Lakeview-based Town Hall (19th) Police District. There were 237 hold-ups in the district through last Sunday, according to CPD’s latest CompStat report. That’s up 72% compared to the same period last year and 30% compared to 2018.
