Chicago — Chicago police detectives are sifting through yet another stack of armed robbery reports today as another wave of at least 15 holdups, including some carjackings, were reported between late Friday night and early Saturday morning.
Since December 2, similar sprees have claimed more than 50 robbery victims in the same general areas where the latest holdups occurred. Yet, the Chicago Police Department has failed to launch a comprehensive strategy to address the ongoing problem.
According to information gathered from CPD and other sources, last night’s crime wave began just before midnight in the Old Town neighborhood. Three masked men displayed guns and forced a driver from a silver or gray BMW SUV in the 1400 block of North Sandberg Terrace around 11:55 p.m.
About 10 minutes later, the same BWM was used by two masked men who tried to carjack a man near the corner of Diversey and Wolcott in Lincoln Park. The carjacking failed, but the crew did get away with the victim’s wallet. An officer at the scene said the robbers were a Black female in her 20s and two Black males who stood about 6 feet tall.
Around 12:25 a.m., carjackers took a man’s 2020 Toyota RAV4 at gunpoint in the 2300 block of West Logan.
At about 1:30 a.m., four masked men robbed another man at gunpoint and forced him to surrender the device’s PIN in the 2800 block of North Southport in Lakeview.
Meanwhile, at least six people were robbed in three separate incidents to the north:
At 1:08 a.m., two armed men stepped out of a silver car and robbed a man and two women as they walked in the 6100 block of North Glenwood in Edgewater, a CPD spokesperson said. The crew got away with the victims’ phones, wallets, and backpacks.
The Edgewater robbers escaped in a silver 2011 Hyundai sedan bearing license plate Q203905. Victims in several subsequent robberies would report that they were targeted by people who traveled in the same car or one similar to it.
Around 2 a.m., victims reported being robbed by armed men wearing ski masks in the 6200 block of North Bell and the 6200 block of North Talman. According to an officer at the scene, the woman who was robbed on Talman reported that the offenders were one black female and four black males who fled in a silver sedan.
The same Hyundai used in Edgewater popped up again around 2:20 a.m. in the 1200 block of North Maplewood in Humboldt Park. Three masked gunmen in their late teens got out of it and robbed a group of friends of their phones and wallets.
Around 2:35 a.m., police think the same group robbed at least three people near the intersection of Chicago and California avenues.
The Hyundai suffered vehicle damage at some point because victims began to report that its rear bumper was hanging off.
One of those victims was targeted by four men who stepped out of the car to rob him near the intersection of Chicago and Grand avenues just before 4 a.m. The victim told police that the offenders sped off in pursuit of a black vehicle after they robbed him.
Perhaps not coincidentally, moments later, a man was carjacked of his black Cadillac CTS about a block away in the 900 block of North Mozart.
Two more robberies were reported after sunrise on Saturday:
- Three men robbed a woman of her phone as she walked toward The 606 in the 2600 block of West Bloomingdale around 7:30 a.m. The offenders fled in a silver SUV.
- A woman suffered a head injury when a man robbed her of her purse and watch in the 2100 block of West Haddon around 7:45 a.m.
In addition to having rear bumper damage, the Hyundai also sported a broken rear side window, which likely indicates that so-called “Kia Boys have stolen it.” However, the vehicle did not appear in CPD’s stolen car database as of Saturday morning, possibly because its owner has not yet discovered it missing.
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