Mayor, Chicago police to discuss strategy to prevent robberies, amid string of ATM thefts

CHICAGO (CBS) -- Mayor Brandon Johnson and Chicago Police Supt. Larry Snelling on Friday were set to discuss plans to prevent robberies throughout the city. It comes as police investigate several recent ATM thefts across the city.

Surveillance camera captured brazen thieves stealing an ATM early Thursday at a West Town gas station.

The incident happened around 3 a.m. Thursday. The video shows a white car pulling up right in front of the entrance to the Citgo gas station convenience store at Ashland and Grand avenues, which also houses a Dunkin' Donuts. 

A masked person dressed in all black walks in, looks around, and then walks out.

Another person then gets out of the car and holds the door open. The first person then kneels down and pushes a trash can out of the way — and then they two violently shake the gas station ATM — knocking it to the floor as a third person now holds the door open.

The two masked people inside the store struggle with the ATM cords before they yank them out, displacing an Illinois Lottery machine that had been next to the ATM in the process. Then, the thieves drag the ATM right out the door and into the back seat of the waiting car.

The incident – caught on camera and shared exclusively with CBS 2 – took less than two minutes to unfold. This was especially shocking given that the ATM was bolted to the floor – holes were behind where the bolts were ripped out.

This was not the first time the 24-hour gas station was the target of a theft. The manager said they have had to install acrylic sheets around the counter due to cashier hold-ups.

But stealing an ATM from the gas station is a first.

CBS 2 is told a clerk watched the robbery happen, but no one was hurt.

This latest incident also comes as Chicago Police issued a community alert documenting six other ATM thefts on the city's Northwest Side, which happened both during business hours and when the businesses were closed.

These thefts happened at the following times and locations:

• Tuesday, March 19, 3:10 a.m., in the 4600 block of North Kedzie Avenue, Albany Park.
• Tuesday, March 19, 3:20 a.m., in the 3100 block of West Irving Park Road, Irving Park.
• Monday, March 25, 8:14 p.m., in the 3200 block of West Addison Street, Irving Park.
• Monday, March 25, 8:15 p.m., in the 3700 block of West Addison Street, Irving Park.
• Monday, April 8, 3:25 a.m., in the 3900 block of North Austin Avenue, Portage Park.
• Between 9 p.m. Tuesday, April 9, and 7:48 a.m. Wednesday, April 10, in the 2800 block of North Narragansett Avenue, Belmont Cragin.

Three men and a woman are believed to be the perpetrators of those six burglaries.

It is unclear whether the incident in West Town was connected to the others.