CHICAGO — At least one off-duty police officer was robbed in the West Loop overnight by a crew that struck again in Uptown hours later. In between, two more people were robbed, also in the West Loop.
On Sunday afternoon, five people were robbed during an hour-long holdup spree that stretched from Logan Square to the West Loop.
No arrests have been announced in any of the cases, which are part of a weeks-long surge in street robberies that involve more than 100 victims.
The latest crimes began around 1:20 a.m. in the 600 block of West Van Buren. Two offenders, one carrying a rifle, robbed two people—a 28-year-old man and a 31-year-old woman—at gunpoint.
At least one of the victims was an off-duty police officer, but some information we received indicates that both victims are cops. (Update July 18: CWB has confirmed that both victims were off-duty police officers.)
The robbers fled the scene in a black 2019 Hyundai SUV.
Another robbery was reported around the same time in the 1300 block of West Roosevelt in the West Loop. A woman said two offenders got away with her purse, which contained a handgun, a CPD report said.
At 3:30 a.m., two cars pulled up to a woman in the 1200 block of West Randolph. Two men got out of the vehicles with rifles and took her purse, a police report said.
Then, around 4 a.m., the SUV used to rob the off-duty officer surfaced in Uptown. According to a CPD report, three men got out and pointed guns at a man, demanding cash. But he had none, so they pistol-whipped the man and left the scene empty-handed.
The victims generally described the robbers as young Black males wearing hoodies and masks.
Sunday afternoon robberies
A wave of holdups on Sunday afternoon began in the 1900 block of North Sawyer around 2:40 p.m. Three victims were robbed at gunpoint by two men who wore ski masks. An officer at the scene said the suspects were Black, with one wearing all-black clothing and the other wearing a blue shirt. They escaped in an SUV, possibly a Hyundai.
About ten minutes later, a man was robbed at gunpoint of his wallet and work tools in the 2600 block of West Haddon, a report said.
Then, at about 3 p.m., an armed man tried to rob another victim near a restaurant in the 300 block of North Green. But the victim got away without losing anything to the offender, who escaped in a white or gray SUV with a damaged rear bumper.
Finally, at about 5:15 p.m., three robbers targeted a man at a bank ATM near Grand and Ogden in West Town. The crew was described as three Black males in their late teens or early 20s wearing ski masks and traveling in a gray Hyundai SUV with damage to its back end, according to a CPD document. All of the robbers wore black clothing, but one had a tan shirt underneath, an officer said.
Off-duty victims
The cop (or cops) robbed in the West Loop on Monday morning aren’t the first off-duty officers targeted during this month’s robbery wave.
Over the weekend, an off-duty officer and a companion were targeted as they left a nightclub in the 200 block of West Ontario around 2 a.m. Saturday, according to a law enforcement source. Three armed robbers took the victims’ property, then fled the scene in a Nissan Altima.
The cop, who we’re told is not a Chicago police officer, got into his car and followed the pings from his stolen phone, which was found in the 1700 block of North Western Avenue in Logan Square.
On the Fourth of July, a 51-year-old off-duty officer was in his Jeep Cherokee in the 1700 block of East 87th Street around 4 a.m. 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.
About three hours later, 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 to the ground, took her purse, wallet, and phone, and escaped in the Jeep.