A group of robbers traveling in a stolen car mugged several women during daylight attacks between the Near West Side and Lincoln Park on Monday morning. One of the attacks was captured on video. Chicago police say no arrests have been made.
The video, Tweeted by the now-deleted @Ryan_Chicago_ account, showed two men getting out of a stolen SUV and mugging a woman on the opposite side of the street.
She could be heard screaming as the offenders, one wearing a red hoodie and the other a black hoodie, return to the car after the mugging.
It’s not clear where the robbery occurred, but the footage looked similar to the 2300 block of West Harrison, where the first confirmed robbery occurred. The video time stamp was 9:51 a.m. on Monday.
According to a Chicago police spokesperson, two men pushed a 57-year-old woman to the ground and took her property in that block around 9:55 a.m.
Five minutes later, robbers punched a 40-year-old woman in her face and stomach as she exited a bus in the 1900 block of West Harrison, the spokesperson said. The victim described the robbers as young men or teenagers wearing black and red hoodies.
At 10:05 a.m., three men emerged from a blue SUV, attacked a 31-year-old woman at a bus stop, and took her property in the 2200 block of North California in Logan Square, according to police.
Police responded to 911 calls about two more robberies in Lincoln Park around 10:15 a.m.
In one of those robberies, witnesses saw two or three men push a woman to the ground and take her purse near Fullerton and Wood streets before escaping in a stolen blue Kia Sportage. A CPD officer radioed that they met the victim at a nearby Starbucks, but a police spokesperson could not find a report documenting the incident.
Other 911 callers saw at least three robbers in their late teens jump out of a dark car and try to steal a woman’s purse in the 1400 block of West Wrightwood, too. But officers said they were unable to find that victim when they arrived. We learned that she later filed a report at a police station.
Then, a 57-year-old woman was mugged by people who exited a vehicle and robbed her at a bus stop in the 2200 block of West Grand around 10:45 a.m., the police spokesperson said.
Police records show that a Kia Sportage used in at least some of the robberies was stolen from the 100 block of North Peoria in the West Loop shortly before the robbery spree began.
Witnesses provided police with that car’s license plate number, or a number similar to it, at the California, Fullerton and Wrightwood incidents, according to dispatch records.
The confirmed robberies all occurred in CPD’s Near West (12th) District and Shakespeare (14th) District.
Overall major crime reports are up 52% in Near West compared to last year and 29% compared to 2018, according to CPD data. Robberies are up 22% over last year.
In Shakespeare, overall major crimes are up 33% from last year, 36% compared to 2020, and 7% compared to 2021. It’s down 1% compared to 2018. Robberies in Shakespeare are at a five-year high, up 20% over last year and 24% compared to 2018.
The Lincoln Park incidents are in the Town Hall (19th) District, where overall major crime is up 66% from last year and 25% compared to 2018. Robberies in the district are up 48% this year and 12% compared to 2018.
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