Editor’s note: A fully updated report about the crime spree is available at this link.
A group of armed men swept through Edgewater overnight, robbing five men and shooting one of them, according to Chicago police reports obtained by CWBChicago.
While the Chicago Police Department issued a brief statement to the media about the man who was shot, the department didn’t tell the public that he was shot during an armed robbery. The police department also failed to notify anyone of the other robberies that occurred in the area within minutes of the shooting.
Officially, the police department said this about the shooting:
In the 5400 block of N. Winthrop, on August 17, 2022, at approx. 12:05 a.m., a male victim, 44, was struck to the leg by gunfire and transported to a St. Francis hospital in good condition. There are no offenders in custody, and area detectives are investigating.
But, CWBChicago has learned that the victim was shot and physically assaulted by two men who robbed him outside an apartment building. He told police that two men shot him, kicked him, and took his phone before fleeing the scene in a silver car heading south.
He made his way into his apartment, where another man called for help. The victim was taken to St. Francis Hospital with a gunshot wound to his right thigh.
Officers on the scene described the robbers as two Black men in their twenties. One of them, wearing a gray hoodie, kicked the victim. Another man, dressed in a red hoodie, shot him.
Police found one shell casing at the scene.
At about the same time as the shooting, four men were robbed in two separate hold-ups in the immediate area.
Two were robbed at gunpoint near the 1000 block of West Balmoral, and gunmen robbed the other two near the 1000 block of West Bryn Mawr.
In both cases, the victims reported to police that three men wearing ski masks approached them and demanded their property. The offenders then fled in a silver vehicle, possibly an SUV, according to the victims.
The robbers were described as three Black males. They wore shirts or hoodies that were variously described as red, brown, and black.
CWBChicago has requested official information about the robberies from the Chicago Police Department. We will provide an update once it responds.
So far this year, nine people have been shot in Edgewater and two of those shootings occurred during robberies.
On January 13, an armed robber shot a 60-year-old man who yelled at him as the offender tried to rob someone at gunpoint in the 5900 block of North Glenwood. A 17-year-old is charged with that shooting.
Then, on March 3, an armed robber shot a man in the leg and shot his dog to death during an armed robbery on the 5200 block of North Winthrop Avenue.
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