CHICAGO — A string of robberies involving a group of men who attack victims who are alone on the street is raising eyebrows in the Loop and South Loop. Two incidents were reported late Monday night.
The crimes bear a strong resemblance to the robbery of a 93-year-old retired Chicago police officer last Friday. He was walking in the 1400 block of South Plymouth around 5 a.m. when several men knocked him to the ground.
They got away with the man’s keys and his retired Chicago police star, according to a CPD report.
Then, just after 11 p.m. Monday, a group of five men knocked another victim to the ground in the 400 block of South Dearborn. They took his headphones, went through his pockets, and fled the scene, an officer said. An ambulance transported him to a hospital for treatment of minor injuries.
Chicago cops stopped four suspects in the 200 block of South Franklin after an off-duty police officer saw them trying to rob another victim nearby, according to CPD radio transmissions.
But the victim, who was taken to a hospital for minor injuries, declined to pursue charges and told police he couldn’t identify the attackers anyway, an officer said. So, police gathered the suspects’ information and sent them on their way.
A CPD surveillance camera operator radioed that last night’s second attack was captured on video. He provided field officers with descriptions of five suspects:
- a Black male wearing a black hoodie with black pants and white shoes
- a Black male wearing a gray hoodie and blue jeans
- a Black male wearing all black with a gray jacket
- a Black male wearing white pants
- a Black male wearing a white t-shirt with a red square on it and black pants
All three crimes occurred in CPD’s Central (1st) District, where robberies are down 9% from a long-time high set in 2022, according to the district’s statistics report, released Monday.
The Central District logged 146 robberies this year through Sunday, down from 160 last year but up 28% compared to 2019, up 35% from 2020, and up 70% over 2021.
