CHICAGO — Amidst a sometimes overwhelming number of armed robberies occurring in parts of Chicago, there is some good news to report today.
Police believe they have arrested one of the men responsible for a string of armed robberies of businesses on the North Side, including one in which a robber fired a round into a gas station cashier’s bulletproof glass.
A little after 9 o’clock last night, two masked and armed men robbed Walgreens, 6140 North Western Avenue, in West Ridge. Officers said they went behind the counter and took cash and bottles of Patrón tequila.
Then, as in previous robberies, they fled the scene on bikes, according to CPD.
Over an hour later, around 10:45 p.m., cops in Rogers Park spotted someone who matched a description of the robbers. He ran from them, but the police caught up with him in a yard behind the 7500 block of North Wolcott.
Officers said he had a bottle of Patrón in his backpack and they found a firearm on the side of a nearby house. Charges are pending, a CPD spokesperson confirmed.
CPD warned about the robbers last Monday after detectives linked the men to a growing number of holdups in the area.
Three men walked into Devon Shell, 1500 West Devon, around 10:55 p.m. on June 26 and tried to get into the cashier’s secure area to rob the clerk. But the room was locked, so they gave up, and one of them fired a gun into the ballistic partition “to intimidate” the victim, according to police.
About an hour later, at least two men robbed Wingstop, 7003 North Clark, at gunpoint, taking the store’s cash register trays, according to a CPD report.
The same crew robbed Walgreens, 3019 West Peterson, at 10:50 p.m. on June 14, police said in a community alert today. One of the men brandished a gun and went behind the counter to take money from the registers.
They struck again around midnight Thursday, June 29, at a business in the 6600 block of North Western Avenue.
The next day, they robbed 7-Eleven, 5562 North Lincoln, around 10:20 p.m. One man was the lookout in that holdup, while another went behind the counter with a gun to get cash and liquor.
Police said up to four Hispanic men are involved in the crimes, all between 15 and 20 years old. They wear ski masks, hoodies, and gloves, then escape on foot or on bicycles.
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