Update 10:21 a.m. — Chicago police announced that one of the 14-year-olds is charged with five counts of robbery for the robberies on Bittersweet and Cullom. Another 14-year-old is charged with two counts of robbery for the Cullom and Western robberies, CPD said.
Four teenagers, three of whom are just 14 years old, crashed a stolen Hyundai on Lake Shore Drive after using it in a series of robberies on the North Side on Sunday afternoon, according to Chicago police reports.
Around 12:35 p.m., the group implied that they had a gun to rob a 35-year-old man in the Jewel-Osco parking lot, 3400 North Western Avenue, according to police records.
Minutes later., the group confronted a 32-year-old man and 35-year-old woman as they walked in the 1900 block of West Cullom in North Center. Four offenders pointed a firearm at the couple and demanded their property, a Chicago police spokesperson said.
The robbers later confronted two men and two women, all in their 20s, during a robbery attempt in the 700 block of West Bittersweet in Uptown.
Police officers spotted the crew’s getaway car and followed it onto Lake Shore Drive. The vehicle spun out, crashed, and flipped over near the Bryn Mawr exit. A CPD crash report said the car struck a tree, went airborne, and landed on its roof. Eric Tendian tweeted video of a tow truck righting the car:
Here’s video from earlier of the crashed Hyundai being removed from Lake Shore Drive at Bryn Mawr. It was used in at least 3 robberies today, four offenders in custody. Two of the offenders were transported to area hospitals from the crash. #ChicagoScanner pic.twitter.com/sj2P4lxc1R
— Eric Tendian (@EricTendian) December 18, 2022
Two teenagers ran from the passenger side of the wreckage as police arrived, the report said. They were arrested at the scene. Two others ran from the crash site and were arrested near Kathy Osterman Beach.
Police found one of the Cullom robbery victims’ wallets at the scene.
All four juveniles were taken to area hospitals to be checked out. One is 16 years old, and the other three are 14, according to CPD records.
The crashed car, a 2013 Hyundai, was reported stolen from the 900 block of West Bryn Mawr on Sunday.
Charges were pending.
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