Chicago — An armed group of men launched an overnight crime spree, starting with an armed carjacking on the Boystown nightlife strip and ending in Bucktown about 90 minutes later, according to Chicago police reports.
No arrests have been made in the latest wave of robberies, which is similar to other recent sprees.
Monday’s crimes began at 3 a.m. in the 3200 block of North Halsted in Boystown. According to a witness, a woman was waiting in a rental car for her friends to come out of a club when two men forced her from the vehicle at gunpoint.
The offenders drove away with the victim’s silver 2023 Toyota and headed east on Belmont Avenue to Lake Shore Drive, followed by a dark SUV bearing license plate XE6498, a Chicago police report said.
Coincidentally, about two hours before the carjacking, an Uber driver reported that he believed he was targeted in a hijacking attempt at the same intersection. Two men tried to open his side doors as he dropped off a passenger at the corner of Belmont and Halsted, the driver reported, but his doors were locked, and he sped away.
The dark SUV used in the successful carjacking was used in another armed robbery at 3240 North Ashland around 4:15 a.m. Monday, according to a police report.
In that case, a man was walking from XSport to his car when two armed men demanded his property. He turned over his valuables, and the crew fled west on School Street in the SUV.
Ten minutes later, armed men stepped out of the same SUV to rob a 50-year-old man in Bucktown. He told police he was in the 2100 block of North Ashland when two gunmen stepped out of the vehicle and took his valuables.
No injuries were reported in any of Monday’s crimes.
Similar holdup and carjacking sprees have been reported this month. At least five were reported in Lakeview, West Town, and Wicker Park during a spree that stretched from late on March 9 into the early hours of March 10.
At least 14 people were robbed during a wave of robberies on the evening of March 9. Additional cases were reported on March 8 and March 5.
The victims generally described the suspects as Black males wearing black hoodies and ski masks.