Chicago police are investigating two lucrative, daring, and unusual burglaries that may be the work of a “hole in the wall gang”—jargon for thieves who specialize in burglarizing locations by breaking through walls. The crimes were reported at a Lincoln Park bank on Monday and a sprawling computer store in nearby Logan Square on Saturday.
Most recently, someone drove a car through the rear door of a storefront in the 2100 block of North Clybourn and then broke through a wall to access the safe at Bank of America, 2163 North Clybourn, according to a Chicago police report.
A CPD spokesperson didn’t identify the targeted business by name, but they did confirm that an employee found the safe “empty” at 9:55 a.m. on Monday. It’s not clear when the burglary occurred. The bank was closed on Sunday, but there was money in the safe when the staff locked up on Saturday evening, police said.
On Monday evening, the rear doors the burglars’ car plowed through were sealed with heavy plywood. The Bank of America website said the location has been “temporarily closed,” but no reason was given for the closure. Customers with safe deposit boxes at the Clybourn branch were told to email the bank if they needed to access their items.
The FBI and Chicago police are investigating.
Meanwhile, cops are also looking into a “hole in the wall” burglary at Micro Center, the massive electronics store at 2645 North Elston. Police responded to a burglar alarm at the retailer around 1:44 a.m. Saturday. The burglars were gone, but “multiple electronic items were reported stolen,” a CPD spokesperson said.
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