Chicago — For about a month, armed crews have unleashed nearly 100 robberies during increasingly frequent crime sprees, with the near west, northwest, and north sides of Chicago being especially hard-hit.
On Monday, Chicago police arrested a four-man crew that officials say is responsible for some of the robberies. They’re all being held without bail.
A concealed carry holder shot three members of a four-person robbery team that allegedly tried to rob him on December 5. Charges have been filed against three members of that group, and the fourth remains hospitalized after receiving a gunshot wound to his head.
Yet, incredibly, eight more people were robbed overnight during another series of armed holdups in Logan Square, Humboldt Park, and Belmont Cragin. The offenders fired a handgun during one of the robberies, police said. And, like dozens of other robberies in the crime wave, the crew traveled in a Kia, possibly stolen, and jumped out to rob people on the street at gunpoint.
Friday’s spree began around 2:42 a.m. Officers in CPD’s Austin (25th) District received a ShotSpotter alert about gunfire in the 4900 block of West Belmont. Responding officers found two robbery victims at the scene.
The 42-year-old man and 50-year-old woman told cops they were outside when four men carrying firearms stepped out of a silver vehicle, possibly a Kia Soul, said CPD spokesperson Kellie Bartoli.
After taking property from the woman, the men returned to their getaway car, and one of the gunmen fired a bullet into the sidewalk before they left, Bartoli said.
Another robbery occurred about ten minutes later in the 5500 block of West Belmont. A man was robbed at gunpoint by four men who traveled in a silver Kia Soul, a CPD report said.
A similar robbery happened outside McDonald’s at 2311 North Cicero a short time later.
Then, a little before 4 a.m., two men got out of a vehicle, possibly a Kia Soul, and robbed a 42-year-old woman and a 58-year-old man in the 2800 block of West Division, Bartoli said. Police recovered some of the victims’ property nearby.
Another robbery followed in the 1600 block of North Springfield. And shortly after 5 a.m., a victim walked into the 25th District police station to report that a group of men in a white Kia robbed them in the 3900 block of West Shakespeare.
So far, no arrests have been made in connection with Friday’s crimes.
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