A group of armed robbers targeted two men in separate robberies in Wicker Park on Wednesday evening, Chicago police said. The offenders pistol-whipped one of the victims.
The first victim, a 44-year-old man, told police he was walking in the 1700 block of North Paulina when three men confronted him around 7:18 p.m. Two of the robbers took the man’s property while the third displayed a gun, said Kellie Bartoli, a CPD spokesperson. All of the suspects fled in a gray vehicle, possibly a newer Honda Civic, that was waiting nearby.
Then, around 7:30 p.m., four men stepped out of a gray vehicle, possibly a Honda, to rob another man in the 1700 block of West Pierce, Bartoli said. The victim, 20, said he was walking in the alley when one of the robbers hit him in the head three times with a handgun and the others took his property.
According to Bartoli, the group fled east in the gray car, then north.
Police did not release any descriptions of the suspects in either incident.
There were 66 robberies in Wicker Park and Bucktown during the first half of the year, up from 39 during the period last year and 33 in 2020, according to the city’s data portal.
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