CHICAGO — At least eight people were robbed late Friday and early Saturday by men who displayed multiple firearms, according to Chicago police reports. It’s unclear if the same group is responsible for all of the crimes.
The holdups began a little after 10 p.m. when a red sedan pulled up an alley in the 1800 block of West Grand. A woman reported that five or six men emerged from a red vehicle, displayed guns, and took her purse and backpack. They tried to take her car, too, but weren’t able to steal it, she reported.
But an Uber driver working a couple of blocks away wasn’t so lucky a few minutes later.
He was in the 1900 block of West Ohio when two gunmen wearing ski masks took control of his gray 2020 Infiniti and drove away, according to a police report. The 43-year-old victim told police that two other cars, possibly including a red sedan, followed the hijackers east on Ohio Street.
Around 11:50 p.m., four men traveling in a red or silver sedan pulled a gun on a woman near the corner of Franklin Street and Institute Place on the Near North Side. The men, whose faces were covered by bandanas, took her bag and car keys but did not take her vehicle, a police report said.
At 12:05 a.m., they struck again in the 1000 block of North Milwaukee.
Then, just after midnight, five men wearing ski masks jumped out of a red car and robbed a victim near Milwaukee Avenue and Paulina Street in Wicker Park.
A CPD spokesperson said a 39-year-old man and a 29-year-old woman were outside when five men wearing ski masks stepped out of a car and robbed them at gunpoint. One of the offenders pistol-whipped the male victim, but he declined medical attention, according to the spokesperson.
The victims said all the men had guns and escaped in a red sedan with their wallets, phones, and a handbag, a report said.
Finally, around 1:40 a.m., three masked men robbed a woman and her companion at gunpoint near Belden Avenue and Sawyer Avenue in Logan Square. They took the victims’ valuables and fled in a white SUV.
An officer at the scene said the robbers were Black men between 20 and 25 years old wearing dark clothing and face coverings. Victims in the earlier robberies offered similar descriptions, according to police reports. The red sedan may be a Hyundai Elantra.
The robberies are similar to a holdup spree that hit West Town and West Loop last week.
Robbery reports are up 13% this year compared to 2022 and up 22% from 2019, according to CPD’s latest CompStat report. In the Near West (12th) and Shakespeare (14th) Districts, where most of last night’s robberies occurred, robbery reports are up 35% and 16% from last year, respectively.
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