Chicago — A group of armed men robbed at least 14 people at gunpoint during a two-hour crime spree that stretched across Chicago from Irving Park to the Lower West Side early Friday, according to Chicago police reports reviewed by CWBChicago. Several of the victims were targeted outside taverns.
Police issued a community alert late Friday morning linking six robberies to the crew, but a law enforcement source identified additional cases that are also believed to be part of the pattern.
The robberies began around 12:40 a.m. in the 2100 block of West Cullerton when a man reported that three gunmen robbed him of his wallet and phone at gunpoint.
He provided a description of the crew that would be echoed by most of the later victims: three Black men wearing ski masks, armed with multiple firearms equipped with lasers, and traveling in a dark-colored car with a broken rear side window.
According to CPD and information provided to CWBChicago:
- Two men were robbed outside Archie’s Iowa Rockwell Tavern, 2600 West Iowa, around 1 a.m.
- Moments later, another man was pushed against a building and robbed two blocks east of Archies, near a bar in the 900 block of North Western Avenue.
- Two men put guns to a woman’s head and took her purse on the corner of Chicago Avenue and Rockwell around 1:10 a.m.
- At 1:21 a.m., four people were robbed of cash, wallets, and phones outside Rosa’s Lounge, 3420 West Armitage.
- Around 1:25 a.m., a man suffered a head injury during an armed robbery in the 3600 block of West Shakespeare in Logan Square. He also told police that he believed the offenders fired a shot during the incident.
- Another victim was robbed around 1:39 a.m. in the 3400 block of West Irving Park Road.
- At 1:40 a.m., another robbery unfolded in the 4000 block of West Wellington.
- Employees at a bar in the 3500 block of West Belmont saw a man get robbed outside around 1:40 a.m., but the victim fled the scene, and no police report was immediately filed.
- Another robbery unfolded in the 1900 block of North Pulaski around 2 a.m.
- A victim was robbed between 2 a.m. and 2:30 a.m. in the 3100 block of North Pulaski.
- Robbers held up a victim in the 4000 block of West Fullerton around 2:10 a.m.
According to the CPD’s community alert, the robbers are between the ages of 25 and 30. They are 5’9″ to 6-feet tall and weigh 170 to 190 pounds. Some of the victims said their getaway car was a Chevy Malibu.
Anyone with information about the crimes should contact Area Five detectives at 312-746-7394 and reference crime pattern P22-5-081.
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