Chicago police are looking into a two-hour violent crime spree that hit Boystown late Sunday night. According to preliminary police information, one victim was severely beaten, another was carjacked, and at least four street robberies were reported in the Halsted nightlife district. Detectives are questioning two people in connection with two of the robberies.
First, a 43-year-old man suffered a head injury when an offender beat him with an object outside 7-Eleven, 3407 North Halsted, around 11:25 p.m. Security officers detained a suspect who is being questioned. The victim was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center in serious condition, a CPD spokesperson said.
Within minutes of the attack, police responded to a string of strong-arm robberies along the famed LGBTQ bar strip.
The spokesperson said between 10 and 12 offenders pushed a 30-year-old man to the ground, punched him, and took his property in the 3200 block of North Halsted around 11:24 p.m. The robbers fled, but police arrested two of them nearby a short time later. Charges are pending.
The same two men are suspected of robbing a passenger late Sunday night at the Addison Red Line station.
At around 11:47 p.m., three robbers beat and robbed a 41-year-old man who was walking in the 3300 block of North Halsted, the police spokesperson said. No arrests have been made in this case.
Another man was reportedly tackled, physically assaulted, and robbed in the 3400 block of North Halsted shortly after midnight. Another man reported to police that three men and two women physically assaulted him in what he thought was a robbery attempt near Belmont and Halsted around 11:40 p.m. The CPD spokesperson could not provide additional information about these two cases due to the large number of incidents involved in the crime spree.
Finally, at about 1:10 a.m., an armed man carjacked a driver of his white Audi TT convertible in the 800 block of West Bradley. The hijacker was described as a Black male with a ponytail who was dressed in a white shirt, dark shorts, and a red baseball hat. According to officers on the scene, he was between 35 and 40 and weighed around 160 pounds.
Police are also looking into a strong-arm robbery aboard a northbound Red Line train near Fullerton, which occurred before the Boystown incidents.
Shortly before 10 p.m., three people jumped the man as their train moved through Lincoln Park. He exited at Fullerton, and the group continued north, according to an officer who reviewed CTA surveillance footage. According to the video, the suspects are a Black male wearing a white hoodie and jeans with a fanny pack across his chest; a Black female with pink hair who wore a white baseball cap, a white tank top, and leggings; and a Black male with a backpack who wore a black baseball hat, t-shirt, and dark jeans.
Police in the Lakeview-based Town Hall (19th) District handled 199 robberies this year through July 3, according to Chicago Police Department statistics. That’s up 73% from last year, 67% from 2020, 59% compared to 2019, and 25% versus 2018.
Town Hall officers patrol the area between Fullerton, Lawrence, Lake Michigan, and the Chicago River.