Overnight armed robbery spree prompts police investigation; 2 suspects in custody
CHICAGO (CBS) – Six people were held up at gunpoint in an armed robbery spree Thursday night into Friday morning, but police still have not connected all five robberies.
As CBS 2's Tara Molina reported, one of the five robberies was caught on camera – and two suspects have been taken into custody.
The first robbery happened at 11:35 p.m. in the 2100 block of West Grace Street in North Center. Police said a 63-year-old woman was walking on the street when a sedan approached and two robbers exited with rifles – demanding the woman's property. The woman complied and was not injured.
At 11:41 p.m., a 42-year-old man was standing on the sidewalk in the 3400 block of North Leavitt Street in Roscoe Village when a white sedan pulled up and two robbers with rifles also demanded his property. He likewise complied and was not injured.
Two minutes after that, a 61-year-old man was robbed while walking on the sidewalk in the 1700 block of West Berteau Avenue, also in the North Center neighborhood. Police said once more, a white sedan pulled up and two robbers with rifles demanded his personal property. The victim complied and was not injured.
At 11:53 p.m., a 43-year-old man and a 32-year-old woman were standing on the sidewalk in the 1800 block of West Roscoe Street in Roscoe Village – when a white sedan approached. This time, one robber exited with a handgun, the other with a rifle. They demanded the victims' property.
This robbery was caught on surveillance video outside the Four Moon Tavern, 1847 W. Roscoe St. This was the first time the Four Moon Tavern seen such a crime - let alone caught it on camera - in 25 years in business.
"It happened very fast, and it was pretty scary," said Four Moon Tavern owner Matt Kozlowski.
The video shows the robbers exiting the car and confronting the man and woman with guns drawn. The man and woman tried to run back into the tavern, but complied when they were confronted with guns.
"Frankly, it's mostly scary for the two people who were involved," Kozlowski said. "They're fine, physically. I'm sure they're pretty shaken up still."
Kozlowski described the robbery outside his bar as brazen, unfortunate, and random.
"I hesitate to even show the video and talk about all this, but I want people to know it's happening, and that people should be aware in the neighborhood," said Four Moon Tavern owner Matt Kozlowski.
In the last incident at 2:45 a.m., a 67-year-old man was walking in the 900 block of West Dakin Street in Lakeview, when a white sedan yet again approached and two robbers demanded his property while implying they had a weapon.
Police say they caught up with the white sedan the suspects were in and found the man's belongings inside. They also arrested the two suspects.
Rob, who didn't want to use his last name, is the owner of the Kia used in the last robbery. He said the last time he saw his car was parked in his Edgewater garage.
"I guess I can't say that it's unexpected, but I have to figure out what to do now," Rob said.
Officers knocked on his door around 5 a.m. and asked him if he knew where his car was. The vehicle was located at the Shell gas station at Addison and Halsted streets in East Lakeview – just steps from the Town Hall (19th) District police station.
Broken glass littered the backseat of the car - along with a damaged steering collar and a hanging ignition.
"The ignition. I don't think I can turn it off because I don't think I can turn it back on," Rob said.
The vehicle in question was a Kia. There has been a spike in Kia thefts due to a security flaw.
"My wife and I had been talking about getting a security device for the car for a while now, but we had heard that Kia was going to send out steering wheel locks, so we decided to wait for that," Rob said. "Oops."
We ran the numbers and found robberies are up this year in the city - with 5,641 reported so far this year. It is the highest we've seen since 2018.
Police late Friday said they were still investigating the robberies.
