CHICAGO — Two women were mugged in Lakeview on Tuesday morning by men who traveled in an SUV that had been carjacked from an off-duty police officer just a couple of hours earlier. The cop does not work for the Chicago Police Department.
A separate string of daylight robberies was reported in Lakeview and River North on Monday.
The 51-year-old off-duty cop was in his Jeep Cherokee in the 1700 block of East 87th Street around 4 a.m. on the Fourth of July when three men ordered him to get out of the vehicle at gunpoint, according to a CPD report.
He obeyed their commands but was unable to remove his service weapon before they drove away with it, followed by accomplices in another car.
The crew is suspected of carjacking another Jeep Cherokee at a gas station in the 8200 block of South Halsted about 15 minutes later.
Then, just before 7 a.m., the officer’s Jeep was used by four men who robbed a woman outside Whole Foods, 3201 North Ashland, in Lakeview, a police report said.
Wearing ski masks and black clothing, the men displayed at least one gun and took the woman’s phone and yoga bag. Video showed at least two of the robbers were Black men—one wearing white shoes and the other wearing black shoes with white soles.
Another woman was attacked and robbed minutes later in the 300 block of West Oakdale. According to a CPD spokesperson, the woman, who was between the ages of 45 and 55, was near the sidewalk when two or three men got out of a black Jeep and demanded her property while brandishing two guns.
The robbers dragged the woman on the ground, took her purse, wallet, and phone, and then escaped in the Jeep.
On Monday, several robberies popped up, starting with the mugging of a 69-year-old woman in Lakeview. Three young men brandished a firearm and took the woman’s purse by force in the 1800 block of West Wellington around 11:35 p.m., a police report said.
An officer radioed three descriptions of the suspects, all of whom appeared to be in their teens:
- Black, wearing a blue hoodie, blue jeans, and black Jordan shoes, with dreadlocks.
- Black, wearing a black hoodie, blue jeans, and black and white Croc-style shoes.
- Black, wearing a black hoodie, black jeans, and black and white Jordan shoes.
At 1:20 p.m., a masked man robbed a convenience store in the 3100 block of North Lake Shore Drive at gunpoint, another police report said.
Another armed robbery was reported in the 500 block of West Superior in River North around 3:45 p.m. A man told police that a masked robber displayed a gun, then escaped in a black vehicle.
Additional robberies were reported in West Town near Chicago Avenue and Leavitt Street in West Town around 3:50 p.m. and in the 500 block of North Hoyne around 6 p.m.
On Hoyne, a woman told police she was backing into her garage when a blue sedan blocked her in, and three men got out with guns. They took her purse and fled in the blue vehicle.
Earlier Monday morning, ten people were robbed by an armed crew that displayed at least one rifle during a string of holdups that stretched from the Loop to Jefferson Park.
Robbery reports are up 14% in Chicago compared to last year, according to CPD’s latest CompStat report. Holdups are at their highest level since at least 2019, which is as far back as the report’s comparisons go.