CHICAGO — Board-up crews were hard at work Sunday morning, installing plywood over the shattered windows of a Chase Bank branch in Uptown. Around the sides of the building and a block-long AT&T facility next door are strings of graffiti protesting everything from cops to capitalism to Hollywood.
Chicago police first responded to a call of an explosion at the bank, 5134 North Clark, around 10:40 p.m. Saturday. The “explosion” turned out to be a smoke bomb that a group of vandals tossed through one of the bank’s many broken windows.
Witnesses reported between 15 and 30 people, all appearing to be in their teens or early 20s, breaking the windows and painting the buildings. The group was last seen running east from Clark Street. No arrests were made.
In a community alert issued after this story was originally published, Chicago police said between 10 and 15 men and women between the ages of 18 and 25 were involved. The group wore dark hoodies, dark pants, and ski masks, the alert said.
It also stated that the group entered both businesses and “defaced the doors and walls with the use of spray paint.”
Information can be shared with Area Three detectives at 312-744-8263. Refer to crime pattern #P23-3-064.
Here’s a look at the damage:
