CHICAGO — “This is the second robbery right next to my house in two months,” a Lincoln Square homeowner told us over the weekend. He sent an email to Ald. Matt Martin (47th) to express his concerns about changes in the neighborhood he has called home for 25 years, too.
Our reader also sent over footage of the mugging, which occurred in the 4500 block of North Leavitt around 11:55 a.m. Saturday.
The robbery occurs in a corner of the video behind the on-screen timer, but you can still see what happens. Watch:
A woman had been walking along Leavitt just before noon with a bag on her shoulder. Frames taken from another camera show a man walking beside her, apparently trying to get her attention as she continues walking.
Then the man backs the woman onto a front lawn. He takes her bag, then extends his hand in front of him as she backs further away. He slides the woman’s bag on his shoulder and walks away.
She quickly bolted next door to the home that had the camera rolling. The bag she had on her shoulder in the still images is gone.
CPD confirmed that the offender displayed a knife and demanded the 34-year-old woman’s property. He fled on foot. The woman was not injured, police said.
“Telling someone to ‘be aware of their surroundings’ is not the answer,” the homeowner wrote in his email to the alderman. “This is not a ‘dynamic,’ these are ARMED ROBBERIES in BROAD DAYLIGHT!”
“Criminals know there are no repercussions. They pretty much know they can do what they want. We should not have to live in fear,” he continued.
If you’re wondering about the other robbery that occurred near his home recently, it was caught on camera, too.
At about 10 p.m. on October 6, a 36-year-old man was walking in an alley at Leavitt and Lincoln Avenue when two men ran up behind him. Hearing someone run up behind him, the victim turned around and saw the two robbers closing in just a few feet away.
They pinned him against a wall and CPD said they displayed a firearm. The robbers got away with the victim’s keys, wallet, and phone. They ran to his nearby Honda and drove it away, according to a police report.
Lincoln Square is typically one of Chicago’s least-violent community areas. But robberies are definitely on the upswing.
The city’s violence reduction dashboard says 60 people have been robbed in Lincoln Square as of Saturday. That’s up 100% from the number seen at this point last year.
Over the past ten years, Lincoln Square has averaged 40 robbery victims as of November 18, with only 2017 exceeding this year’s tally.
Editor’s note: A CPD spokesperson was initially unable to locate a police report documenting Saturday’s robbery. They located the report subsequent to the publication of this story. We have updated the report accordingly.
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