CHICAGO — The nightly robbery sprees keep coming and coming. And on Friday morning, the holdup crews put Logan Square and Humboldt Park in the crosshairs. At least nine robberies and carjackings were reported in about an hour, starting around 12:30 a.m.
They started by carjacking a man in the 900 block of North Washtenaw. Three or four men, all carrying guns, took the man’s wallet and drove away with his 2021 Honda Civic, according to a police report.
Like most of the victims, he told police that at least one of the robbers was armed with a rifle or shotgun.
Moments later, a woman was carjacked of her Jeep Commander in the 1100 block of North Washtenaw by a man who got out of a car with a rifle.
Another man was robbed in the 2300 block of West Thomas around 12:35 a.m. Three men, one armed with a rifle and others with handguns, took his backpack, phone, and wallet.
Police said the crew consisted of Black males in their early 20s who wore black clothing and ski masks.
A similarly-described group robbed another man in an alley in the 2700 block of West Haddon around 1 a.m. They took his phone, wallet, and bookbag, then fled in an SUV.
Two men were robbed as they sat in a vehicle near Taco Bell, 2432 North Milwaukee, around 12:53 a.m. A police spokesperson said about five men got out of an SUV, displayed guns, and took property from the men, ages 31 and 50.
A wallet belonging to one of those men was found about 15 minutes later at another robbery scene in the 2600 block of North Central Park.
There, four robbers displayed handguns to rob a 44-year-old man around 1:06 a.m., a CPD spokesperson said. But the robbery turned physical, and the victim suffered bruising to his head and a cut on his leg. He was taken to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center for treatment, police said.
Two more robberies were reported a few minutes later: in the 1400 block of North Harding and near Schubert and Central. Later, robberies were reported in the 1800 blocks of North Ciero and North LeClaire around 6:20 a.m.
So far, no arrests have been made.
Robbery sprees have been popping up across the North and Near West sides for months. Among the latest:
- On Monday morning, a group of men armed with handguns and at least one rifle went on a cross-town robbery spree stretching from the Loop through Lincoln Park to the Northwest Side.
- Eight women were robbed in about 11 minutes in Lincoln Park Tuesday morning by a crew that traveled in an SUV carjacked from Chinatown. Prosecutors charged a man with participating in the hijacking, but he is not accused of robbing any of the Lincoln Park victims.
- Wednesday night into Thursday morning, five businesses and some of their customers were robbed.
- Three more robberies were reported in Lincoln Park early last Friday. A DePaul student was among four people robbed in the neighborhood the night before.
