The armed holdups keep happening, but the robbers may be changing the script

August 18, 2023 8:12 PM CWBChicago Citywide, Lincoln Square, Near West Side, Old Town, Ravenswood, Roscoe Village, Uptown, West Loop, West Town
The approximate locations of the robberies mentioned in this story. | Multiplottr

CHICAGO — There are some indications that the prolific robbery crews that have been ripping across Chicago in near-daily holdup sprees are changing up their game.

On Thursday night, a crew hit several times in Roscoe Village, North Center, and Ravenswood, neighborhoods that the robbery teams have not focused on in the past.

There were also a handful of one-off robberies throughout Thursday and Friday that fit the style of the robbery crews without turning into a string of successive crimes.

The one spree that did break out on Thursday began with the mugging of a 63-year-old woman in the 2100 block of West Grace in North Center at 11:35 p.m.

Police said a white sedan pulled up, two men got out of the car with rifles, and took her property.

They pulled off a similar robbery six minutes later in the 3400 block of North Leavitt in Roscoe Village. Police said a 42-year-old man was targeted there.

At 11:43, the same scenario unfolded in the 1700 block of West Berteau, police said. The victim was a 61-year-old man.

Finally, around 11:53 p.m., two people standing outside Four Moon Tavern, 1847 West Roscoe, were robbed. Police said a white sedan pulled up and two men got out—one with a rifle and the other with a handgun. The victims, a 43-year-old man and a 32-year-old woman, were not injured.

Most of the victims described the robbers as slender, young Black males who stood 5’6″ to 5’8″ tall. They wore ski masks and dark clothing.

Other holdups that occurred from Thursday night to Friday morning include:

  • The robbery of a man in the 4400 block of North Sawyer by a gunman who exited a black vehicle around 9 p.m.
  • A man was punched and robbed by three men who got out of a silver Mitsubishi SUV in the 700 block of South Clinton around 10:15 p.m. The SUV, which had been carjacked at gunpoint earlier, was found abandoned about 90 minutes later in the 1900 block of South Drake.
  • A woman was surrounded by four armed men who took her property near Orchard and North Avenue in Lincoln Park shortly after 11 p.m.
  • A woman was robbed of her keys, phone, and wallet in the 5000 block of North Wolcott around 11:10 p.m. The robbers, who covered the woman’s mouth and threatened to kill her, also took the woman’s Subaru Forester, which was recovered in the 5600 block of West Grand on Friday morning.
  • Four people robbed a man in the 2300 block of West Chicago Avenue around 12:05 a.m. Friday. The victim believed one robber was a woman who brandished a handgun, and the other three were men, including one who had a rifle, a CPD report said. They were masked and escaped in a silver SUV with a broken rear side window.
  • A woman was robbed near the corner of May and Randolph in the West Loop around 10:35 a.m. Friday. The robbers escaped in a white Honda SUV that had been carjacked on the West Side on Thursday.

The robbery sprees have been happening for months. Here is some of our more recent coverage: