CHICAGO — Prosecutors have charged a man with participating in two violent robberies aboard Red Line trains in the Loop last year and a Chicago police report says he’s being eyed in at least one more CTA mugging.
Breon Edwards, 20, was ordered detained by Judge John Hock, who said Edwards and a group of accomplices “preyed on random victims on CTA trains” and committed “extremely dangerous robberies.”
Edwards is charged with two robberies that occurred hours apart on September 16: of a 21-year-old man at the State-Lake platform around 3:30 a.m. and of a 22-year-old man on a train near Jackson at 6 a.m. CPD previously announced that a 14-year-old boy had also been charged with those robberies.
Officials said a group of people joined Edwards to commit the robberies. One of his accomplices kicked and punched the first victim and another strangled the second victim, according to the allegations. The second victim was reportedly hospitalized.
Cops recently arrested Edwards after they saw him fail to use a turn signal. He sped away from the police, hit a parked car, and drove through the Gage Park soccer field until his Volkswagen Jetta died, according to his arrest report. He allegedly bailed out of the car and ran through six lanes of Western Avenue traffic to get away, but the cops eventually caught him.
A CPD supervisor said Edwards was also suspected of participating in a robbery on the Red Line at Argyle on November 27. CPD released surveillance images of two suspects in that robbery, but no charges have yet been filed.
Judge Hock noted that Edwards was on probation for two burglaries at the time of the robberies.
