Armed men tried to rob two people at a luxury downtown hotel early Sunday, then carjacked a driver in Streeterville minutes later, according to Chicago police reports. No arrests have been made, and CWBChicago has learned that the local police district had no patrol cars available to launch timely responses to the crimes.
The robbery occurred at The Ritz-Carlton, 160 East Pearson Street, at 2:44 a.m., a CPD report said. Without identifying the hotel by name, a police spokesperson said two robbers approached a man and woman inside a business and displayed three handguns, demanding their property.
The spokesperson said the victims and robbers got into a fight, and the robbers fled eastbound in a car without getting anything from their targets. According to a source, the victims later became uncooperative with police.
An officer at the scene said one robber was armed with an “assault-style rifle,” while the other displayed two handguns. The suspects are two Black males, one wearing a black tracksuit with a white stripe on the side and the other wearing a blue hoodie with black pants, according to the officer.
Moments after the robbery, the robbers’ car collided with another vehicle on Inner Lake Shore Drive at Huron Street. The collision caused extensive damage to the BMW, which had been reported stolen in Lincolnwood. The thieves, however, continued driving for a few blocks.
When they reached the 400 block of North McClurg Court around 2:50 a.m., four men stepped out of the car and pointed guns at a man who was parked on the street, according to police. The men ordered the 44-year-old victim out of his white Toyota Corolla and drove away with it. They left the wrecked, stolen BMW behind.
The victims of both crimes waited quite a while to file their reports.
A police dispatcher said on-air that all of the CPD units in the district that were not handling 911 calls were assigned to “fixed posts” and could not respond. Supervisors from CPD eventually met with the victims and told them to file reports at the Near North (18th) District station.
Many of those “fixed posts” were in a section of Old Town where Chicago police banned street parking and assigned patrol units in anticipation of an unlicensed street party to celebrate the death of a gang member this weekend.
