CHICAGO — Two men have been charged with robbing a New York City man aboard a Red Line train this month. One of them was previously accused of participating in a robbery attempt that was so violent, that the victim jumped from a moving Red Line train to get away.
Terrance Hardy, 23, and Levi Gilliam, 18, are both charged with robbery plus misdemeanor theft of services for allegedly jumping CTA turnstiles moments before being arrested.
The victim, 39, told police he was riding a southbound train on the evening of November 15 when four males, two wearing ski masks, confronted him near 35th Street. Hardy sat next to him and “exerted a threat” by placing his hand on the victim’s book bag to “seize control” of it, a Chicago police report said.
Gilliam allegedly rifled through the man’s pockets, taking his wallet and phones while a juvenile menacingly asked the victim, “Do you want to get shot?”
A CTA surveillance camera operator tracked Hardy and Gilliam to the 63rd Street Red Line station, the police report said. Officers went there and allegedly saw Hardy jump the turnstile while Gilliam slipped through a handicap-accessible gate without paying. The officers arrested both of them and noted in their arrest reports that they both had ski masks. Gilliam also had the victim’s Diner’s Club card in his jacket pocket, according to the CPD report.
Prosecutors asked Judge David Kelly to keep both men in jail pending trial. Kelly agreed to keep Hardy locked up, but he released Gilliam on electronic monitoring, records show.
Hardy is currently on probation for aggravated unlawful use of a weapon. That stemmed from an arrest in July 2023 while he was on probation for his role in a violent robbery at the Roosevelt Red Line station in November 2022.
That victim was riding a northbound train when five men approached him and asked for cigarettes around 1:42 a.m., officials said. When he said he didn’t have any, the group closed in and started beating and robbing him.
Prosecutors said the victim, who lost $30 and cigarettes to the group, pulled out a box cutter to stop the attack. The group backed away, allowing him to pull the train’s emergency lever and then jump from the moving railcar at Roosevelt.
The group also exited at Roosevelt and started kicking the victim again, prosecutors said. Three robbers escaped. But Hardy and another man were arrested at the station.
Hardy eventually pleaded guilty to misdemeanor battery after prosecutors agreed to drop all felony charges, including robbery and unlawful restraint.
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