Chicago — An armed group that traveled in two cars committed at least two carjackings and three robberies in about an hour Thursday morning across Chicago’s north and northwest sides. It’s the third night in a row that armed robbery sprees have popped up on the city’s North Side.
Three of the crimes occurred in West Rogers Park around 2:45 a.m.
Chicago police said two men, ages 22 and 26, were in a car in the 2100 block of West Norwood when three gunmen pulled them from the vehicle and took their valuables. The robbers escaped in a white SUV.
Then, in the 6400 block of North Claremont, two incidents occurred in quick succession.
- A group of men displayed a gun and robbed a 35-year-old man who was walking on the block. They escaped in white and gray SUVs that were waiting for them, a CPD spokesperson said.
- Three men confronted a 23-year-old man who was getting out of his black Mazda 6. One of the robbers displayed a gun and took the victim’s keys and valuables. They then drove away with his car. A source said police found the vehicle abandoned in the 600 block of North Troy about an hour later.
About an hour before the North Side robberies, a group of up to eight robbers who traveled in two SUVs committed an armed robbery in Forest Glen and a carjacking in Portage Park.
The robbery occurred in the 4800 block of West Ainslie around 1:30 a.m., according to a CPD statement. A 29-year-old man was walking on the sidewalk when five men stepped out of white and dark-colored SUVs to rob him at gunpoint.
Ten minutes later, five carjackers stepped out of a black SUV and forced a 46-year-old man from his vehicle in the 4900 block of West Lawrence, the police statement said. The hijackers pistol-whipped the victim and took his wallet before driving away with his car.
The robbers were described as Black males in their late teens or 20s who wore masks. One wore a white hoodie with a black jacket. Another wore a black jacket with a camouflage pattern. Some of the victims told police that they believed one or two of the robbers were women, according to police reports.
They were all last seen heading east on Devon from Claremont in the SUVs and the hijacked Mazda.
Chicago police have responded to bursts of overnight robberies on the North Side this week.
Three armed robberies were reported in Uptown on Wednesday. Another hold-up in Streeterville is believed to be linked to the crimes.
On Monday evening, four people were robbed in two separate incidents in Lincoln Park.
Police have not issued any community alerts about the crimes or publicly linked any of the robberies to specific groups of offenders.