Two people, including a 17-year-old boy, are in custody after another robbery unfolded in Lakeview overnight. It was the third armed robbery in two nights for Chicago’s Town Hall (19th) Police District, where robbery reports are up 66% this year compared to last year and 27% compared to 2018.
The robbery happened around 2:58 a.m. on the 900 block of West Newport, according to a CPD spokesperson. Two men, ages 21 and 22, were walking when three male robbers approached them with a handgun.
As one of the robbers held the victims at gunpoint, the other two went through the victim’s pockets and took their valuables, the spokesperson said. The robbery was recorded by a nearby CPD surveillance camera, according to police records.
Chicago police officers located two suspects near the Addison Red Line station and took them into custody after the victims identified them. The third robber got away. Officers also recovered a stolen handgun.
The 17-year-old boy is charged with two counts of felony armed robbery with a firearm and felony possession of a stolen firearm. He was also cited for possessing a replica handgun.
Charges are still pending against the second person, according to the police spokesperson.
Chicago police recorded 101 robberies in Lakeview during the first half of this year, up from 59 during the same period last year, 47 in 2020, and 69 in 2019.
There were two armed robberies reported early Thursday in the Town Hall District:
At around 1:16 a.m., two armed robbers held a man and woman at gunpoint and forced them to lie on the ground in the 4300 block of North Damen. The robbers took the victim’s belongings and headed east on Montrose. The victims, a 28-year-old man and a 40-year-old woman, were not injured. They described the robbers as two Black males wearing black hoodies pulled tightly around their heads.
Around 2 a.m., two armed men confronted a 22-year-old man in the 600 block of West Oakdale in Lakeview. They forced him to walk to an ATM and withdraw money, which they took, a CPD spokesperson said. The suspects are two Black males who stand about 5’10” tall. According to officers at the scene, one wore a black “AntiSocial” hoodie, and the other had dreads. They were last seen heading south on Broadway.