Another wave of robberies hit Wicker Park, the West Loop, and West Town overnight as the area continues to be targeted for robbery sprees almost daily. At least eight robberies were reported in the latest wave, including one carjacking. Chicago police have said they believe at least two armed robbery teams are working the area.
In the latest cases:
- Around 10:15 p.m., a robber ordered a man and his girlfriend to lie on the ground in the 2300 block of West St. Paul before taking the victims’ property. Sunday. According to an officer who responded to the scene, the suspect is a Black male who stands about 6-feet tall and is dressed in a hoodie.
- Later, three men wearing ski masks blocked in a woman’s car in the 1400 block of West Randolph around 1:45 a.m. today. Two offenders got out of the car and pounded on her windows with guns, ordering her to get out. They then pulled her from her white Mercedes A22 and drove away. A third offender followed the hijacked car in a black sedan.
Then, a series of robberies that may have involved the same two men started in the West Loop about two hours later.
- Shortly before 4 a.m., a man threw a woman to the ground and took her backpack in the 800 block of West Randolph. She described the robber as a thin Black male wearing dark clothing and a black hoodie. He ran into an alley at Randolph and Green after the robbery, according to a report.
- A few minutes later, two robbers in dark hoodies jumped a man from behind and knocked him to the ground near Chicago and Oakley in West Town. According to the police report, they took his wallet and phone and kicked him in the head before fleeing.
- A similar robbery occurred around 4:45 a.m. in the 1700 block of West Fulton. Two men dressed entirely in black hit a man on the side of the head and stole his property. According to the victim, one of the robbers was a Black male between the ages of 25 and 30, standing about 6-feet tall. According to a CPD report, both offenders fled in a gray car, possibly a Honda Civic. Interestingly, one of the robbers accidentally left one of their slide-style shoes behind at the robbery scene.
- Around 6 a.m., a robber confronted a man at a bus stop on the corner of Damen and Superior, implied that he had a gun, and took the victim’s backpack.
- Then, around 6:45 a.m., a man wearing no shoes mugged a woman in the 1300 block of North Milwaukee of her crossbody bag. The victim described a suspect who resembles the robber who left a shoe on Fulton earlier in the morning.
- Finally, just after 7 a.m., a man wearing one slide got out of a gray four-door car and asked a woman what time it was. She kept walking, but he ran after her and pulled away her backpack, according to a CPD report. The man then fled in the sedan, which an accomplice drove.
Wicker Park, the West Loop, and West Town were targeted in other robbery sprees on Sunday morning, Friday morning, and last Tuesday. Police have issued community alerts about two different robbery crews that are working the area, but no arrests have been made.