CHICAGO — Police are investigating two robberies that unfolded early Wednesday, one along Wacker Drive in the Loop and the other in West Town. The cases have some similarities, but Chicago police have not linked the two cases.
In the first incident, a 20-year-old man and two 18-year-old men were sitting in a parked car on Wacker Drive just east of State Street when a black sedan pulled up next to them around 1:40 a.m.
Three men exited the sedan with handguns and demanded the victims’ property, a CPD spokesperson said. One of the offenders punched the 20-year-old in the face as the robbery unfolded.
Police said the victims tried to run away, but the crew was able to take their property before escaping in the sedan, which may have been a BMW, according to CPD.
An officer who responded to the scene said the robbers were three Black males, one of whom wore a tan sweater and another wearing a black sweater.
Then, around 2:28 a.m., three robbers jumped out of a gray sedan and robbed a 27-year-old woman and 31-year-old man who were walking in the 2500 block of West Division, police said. The group struck the male victim in the back of the head and took property from both victims, but no weapons were displayed, according to the police spokesperson.
The group’s getaway car, a Hyundai Sonata, was recently reported stolen from the 1200 block of North Bosworth, according to CPD records.
Robbery reports are at their highest level since at least 2019, up 15% compared to the same time last year, according to the police department’s latest crime statistics report.
