CHICAGO — Three high school students were robbed at gunpoint Saturday evening after leaving an event at Whitney Young Magnet School, according to a parent of one victim.
It happened just after 9 p.m. at the Racine Blue Line station.
“I am disgusted that our kids can’t even take public transportation at 9 p.m.,” the parent said Sunday. “We have told him 100 times to take an Uber after dark. But you know, 17-year-old boys are invincible.”
Chicago police confirmed that three 17-year-old boys were on the train platform near Loomis Street when two offenders confronted them. One of the robbers displayed a gun, demanded property from all three boys, and fled from the platform, according to CPD.
The victims went to a friend’s nearby house and called 911. Two of them attend Whitney Young, and the third attends a North Side high school, the parent said.
Robbery reports across Chicago are up 14% this year compared to 2022, according to the latest Chicago Police Department CompStat report. Robberies are also up 32% from 2021, 22% compared to 2020, and 27% from 2019.
In fact, of the seven major crime categories that CPD monitors in its weekly report, every category except murder is up this year, with total reports 45% higher than last year and 60% compared to 2019.