CHICAGO — Smash-and-grab burglars raided a Lululemon store in Lakeview overnight and another burglary team tried to take an ATM from a Streeterville convenience store a short time later, according to overnight reports from Chicago police officers.
The break-ins occurred in two CPD districts experiencing double-digit increases in burglaries this year.
In Lakeview, four people broke into Lululemon, 3556 North Southport, by smashing through the front door around 3:28 a.m. They took merchandise and escaped in a silver Audi Q3 that has been playing cat and mouse with cops on the North Side this week, an officer said. The crew keeps changing the license plates on the car, making it more difficult for police to track them on the city’s network of license plate readers.
Then, just after 4 a.m., a group of people tried to take the ATM from a convenience store in the 200 block of West Grand. They didn’t get the cash machine this time, but cops suspect they’re the same crew that did get an ATM from a business in the Gold Coast earlier this week.
Burglary reports are up 5% citywide in 2024, but the pace is much quicker in CPD’s Near North (18th) and Town Hall (19th) Districts.
Break-ins are up 22% in Near North, bounded by the lake, the river, and Fullerton Avenue. Town Hall, running between the lake and the river from Fullerton to Lawrence, is up 33%.
We reported last week that burglaries are up sharply in Uptown and Lakeview. The increase is also fueled by a sharp rise in restaurant and bar break-ins, we reported over the weekend.
