Boy, 14, charged in robbery spree on CTA Red Line trains
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A 14-year-old boy has been charged in a string of violent robberies on CTA Red Line trains since mid-November.
Police said the boy has been charged with four counts of aggravated battery, four counts of robbery, two counts of attempted robbery, one count of armed robbery, and one count of aggravated robbery.
He was arrested on Thursday at the Bryn Mawr station on the Red Line, after he was identified as one of the people who took part in multiple violent robberies along the Red Line in Uptown and Edgewater since November. Police said:
- On Nov. 13 at 8:45 p.m., he robbed a 21-year-old man at the Argyle station.
- On Nov. 13 at 10:40 p.m., he robbed a 44-year-old man, at the Granville station.
- On Nov. 16 at 9 p.m., he robbed a man and a woman, both 22, at the Bryn Mawr station.
- On Nov. 24 at 4:52 a.m., he robbed a 32-year-old man at the Thorndale station.
- On Nov 24 at 4:35 p.m., he robbed a 31-year-old man at the Thorndale station.
- On Nov. 27 at 12:59 a.m., he robbed a 36-year-old man at the Argyle station.
- On Dec. 17 at 11:20 p.m., he robbed a 56-year-old woman at the Bryn Mawr station.
In a community alert issued last month, police said in each robbery, between two and seven people approached victims on Red Line trains and robbed them by force, sometimes taking their belongings from their pockets.
Police had only vague descriptions of the suspects, who were wearing dark clothing. In multiple cases, they were wearing a dark hooded sweatshirt with the words "Chicago—The Windy City" on the front, a multi-colored bag with the wording "Cookies" on the front, and a black Nike hooded sweatshirt.
