Teens charged with 10+ robberies, including one committed while Chicago police helicopter watched from above

*A surveillance image of a robbery crew’s getaway car taken on Saturday, September 2, in West Town. | Provided*

CHICAGO — Three teenagers are each charged with up to a dozen counts of robbery after they went on a Saturday afternoon crime spree, Chicago police said. They’re even accused of committing one robbery while a Chicago Police Department helicopter unit was watching them from above.

CPD said a 17-year-old boy is charged with eleven counts of armed robbery with a firearm and one count of attempted armed robbery with a firearm. He also had an outstanding warrant. A 16-year-old boy faces the same counts plus a felony gun possession charge. And a 15-year-old boy is charged with ten counts of armed robbery with a firearm and one count of unlawful possession of a handgun.

The robbery spree began around 1:30 p.m. in the 1800 block of West Race. Four masked robbers exited a gray car with a broken side window, robbed a 27-year-old man at gunpoint, and then drove away.

A short time later, they struck again in the 2000 block of South May, robbing two men and pistol-whipping one of them.

In the first block of South Aberdeen, they fired a gun while robbing a 23-year-old woman around 2:20 p.m., according to a CPD report. No injuries were reported, but police did recover a shell casing at the scene.

According to Chicago police, the group also robbed:

a 41-year-old man in the 2400 block of South Wentworth
two men, ages 60 and 53, in the 1400 block of West 56th Street
three men, ages 55, 46, and 24, in the 300 block of East 48th Street

CPD’s helicopter unit began tracking the crew’s car shortly after those robberies as the group headed toward downtown. At 3:15 p.m., the helicopter crew radioed that they saw the group committing another robbery in the 2100 block of South State. Police said a 44-year-old woman was robbed there.

All three juveniles bailed out of the car as cops moved in in the 1100 block of South Clark around 3:20 p.m., but police rounded them all up.

At least three other robberies were committed in West Town at the time of yesterday’s spree, but CPD did not announce any charges in connection with these:

Two armed men robbed three people in the 1800 block of West Grand around 1:40 p.m.
Around 1:45 p.m., a man was robbed at gunpoint near Grand and May by two gunmen who jumped out of a white SUV. Moments later, a group of movers was robbed while working in the 1300 block of West Ohio.

Here is some of our recent coverage of the city’s ongoing robbery spree problem: