CHICAGO — Hours after Chicago police issued a fresh community alert about a growing number of robberies in Lincoln Park, three more people were robbed in the neighborhood overnight.
This morning’s robberies occurred within minutes of each other.
Chicago police said a 30-year-old man was targeted as he walked in the 2100 block of North Halsted around 1:25 a.m. The robber punched him in the face, took items from his hands, and fled the scene.
At about the same time, two women were robbed in the 1300 block of West Wrightwood. The women, ages 29 and 33, said two men got out of a car and asked for a lighter, then robbed them at gunpoint, an officer said.
Both robbers fled in a black four-door sedan that headed east, a CPD spokesperson said. They were described as Black men about 6 feet tall. One wore a durag, and the other had short dreadlocks.
The new community alert describes the robbers as Black males between 20 and 25 years old wearing black hoodies and black pants. They have been using a variety of vehicles, most of which are likely stolen and quickly disposed of. It tied these robberies to a specific crime pattern:
Monday, June 12, 4:23 p.m.
A 26-year-old woman told police she was robbed while walking in the 600 block of West Armitage. The robber approached her from behind, pushed her, and took her phone. Then he escaped in a white four-door sedan, according to a CPD spokesperson.
Monday, June 12, 4:32 p.m.
Another woman was targeted as she walked in the 2200 block of North Geneva Terrace. The 30-year-old said the offender came up from behind and took her phone. He also fled in a white sedan, police said.
Thursday, June 22, 11:30 p.m.
Chicago police said a 76-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman were standing in the 2200 block of North Cleveland when two robbers walked up and said they had a gun. They demanded the victims’ property but ran away after the man swung his briefcase at them, a CPD spokesperson said.
Thursday, June 22, 11:35 p.m.
A man and woman were robbed in the 400 block of West Grant. They told police they were walking when two male robbers confronted them and implied they had a firearm, police said. The victims handed over their property to the offenders, who ran eastbound.
Thursday, June 22, approximately 11:35 p.m.
A robbery was reported in the 700 block of West Belden. No other details were available.
Thursday, June 29, 12:10 a.m.
A dark SUV blocked the path of a woman as she drove near Belden and Geneva Terrace. A gunman exited the SUV and confronted the woman. After robbing her of her belongings, he drove away with her car, police said.
Thursday, June 29, 12:35 a.m.
A woman was robbed on the street in the 1000 block of West Armitage. No further information was available at the time of publication.
Thursday, June 29, 12:43 a.m.
Two vehicles pulled up next to a man sitting in his car in the 1400 block of West Fullerton. He said two men got out of each vehicle and displayed a firearm. The group “began to damage the victim’s vehicle from the outside,” a CPD spokesperson said, and a fight broke out when the victim’s friend showed up to help him.
An officer at the scene said the men broke out all of the victim’s car windows but didn’t get anything from him. They fled in one of the vehicles they drove to the scene, leaving behind a Nissan Rogue carjacked from the 300 block of West 24th Street. The Rogue may have also been used in the robbery above.
Thursday, June 29, 12:45 a.m.
A DePaul student was robbed in the 2200 block of North Fremont. She was walking when a man demanded her property while armed with a weapon. She said she thought the weapon may have been a Tazer because she heard a crackling noise, the school’s public safety office said in an email to the DePaul community. The school’s message said the robbery occurred in the 900 block of West Webster.
Tips can be shared with Area Three detectives at 312-744-8263. Refer to crime pattern P23-3-041C.
Since late May, many other robberies reported in the area were not included in CPD’s newest alert. Including:
- On June 12, a 19-year-old DePaul student was walking in the 2200 block of North Lincoln when a robber came up behind him around 4:30 p.m., according to CPD. He told police that the robber implied that he had a gun and demanded his property, which the victim turned over.
- A little before 11 p.m. on May 28, a woman called 911 to report that two men tried to rob her and a friend as they sat on a bench in Oz Park. The woman who called for help bolted from the park, leaving her friend behind.
- About 20 minutes later, a 26-year-old woman was knocked to the ground and robbed in the 2200 block of North Sheffield, according to CPD. The offender escaped in a light-colored vehicle.
- Two DePaul students, ages 19 and 20, were robbed at gunpoint in the 1300 block of West Fullerton around 4:15 a.m. on May 29. The men were walking when two offenders exited a black car to rob them. After the holdup, the victims went to University Hall, a DePaul residence hall, and a security officer called 911, identifying them as students.
- A 37-year-old woman was carjacked by two men who implied they had weapons at 11:39 p.m. on May 29, police said. She was getting into her car in the 2300 block of North Halsted, directly in front of DePaul’s School of Music building, when they took her black Volkswagen Jetta.
- On June 1, four young women were robbed while walking together in Lincoln Park shortly after midnight in the 700 block of West Webster, Chicago police said. A robber punched one woman in the face. One of them tried to run away, but she fell to the ground, and a robber grabbed her buttocks, then proceeded with the robbery, police said.