CHICAGO — Two robbers walked up behind two women walking in Logan Square on Monday night and barked out “Purses! Purses!” as one of them trained a firearm at the victims, prosecutors said.
The women, ages 29 and 26, were walking in the 1900 block of North Spaulding around 10:30 p.m. when they encountered two men sitting on bikes, blocking the crosswalk at Cortland Street, according to Assistant State’s Attorney Sarah Dale-Schmidt.
As the women continued walking, they heard two voices behind them demanding their purses. The younger woman turned around and saw a man in a red hoodie pointing a handgun at her and the other woman, Dale-Schmidt said.
The robber’s gun fired as the women removed their purses, striking the 26-year-old in her left calf. According to Dale-Schmidt, both women ran from the scene and rang buzzers at a nearby apartment building until someone let them inside.
The uninjured woman wrapped her sweater around the woman’s leg to slow her blood loss until police and EMS arrived.
Meanwhile, Chicago police officers searched the area and quickly found two men on bikes removing black latex gloves from their hands about two blocks from the shooting scene, Dale-Schmidt continued.
Both men escaped on their bikes as police approached, but cops caught one of them, identified as 21-year-old D’Angelo Moore of Hazelcrest. The other man is the one who fired the gun, Dale-Schmidt said, and he got away.
She said the shooting victim’s doctors are trying to determine whether they can remove the metal from her leg.
During Moore’s bond hearing on Wednesday afternoon, Assistant Public Defender Catherine Stockslager pointed out that he has no criminal background and reminded Judge Kelly McCarthy that Moore is not accused of firing the gun. In fact, Stockslager contended, the shooting may have been unintentional. Moore works full-time at a bicycle repair shop, she said.
McCarthy countered that both robbers were allegedly seen removing latex gloves, and both reportedly demanded, “Purses! Purses!” She then agreed to grant the state’s request to hold Moore without bail.
He is charged with aggravated battery by discharging a firearm, armed robbery with a firearm, and attempted armed robbery with a firearm.
The robbery occurred in CPD’s Shakespeare (14th) District, where robbery reports are up 21% compared to the same point last year. The district’s robbery rate is 73% higher than 2021, 127% higher than in 2020, and 78% above 2019’s level, according to the police department’s latest statistics report.