Two violent robberies on Northwest Side come amid spike in such crimes in many parts of city
CHICAGO (CBS) -- A man was beaten with a gun while walking out of a gas station on the city's Northwest Side – in one of two violent robberies there Monday morning.
With such crimes continuing across the city, CBS 2's Tara Molina has tracked them nearly every day for weeks. Molina has been breaking down robbery statistics by Chicago community area – and found that in particular, The Loop has seen a spike in a big way this year, and this month.
The Loop is one of the city's five neighborhoods seeing the most robberies, along with the Near North Side. Also on the list are Austin, the Near West Side, and West Town.
The latest robberies early Monday happened in Avondale – within a period of hours and blocks.
The most recent incident took place at a gas station, in the 3900 block of West Belmont Avenue, just after 4 a.m.
Police said a 38-year-old man was walking out of a BP gas station when he was beaten with a firearm by three men. Police said the offenders, who arrived in a gray sedan, took the man's wallet.
Hours earlier, just after 1:30 a.m. in the 4000 block of West Cornelia Avenue, a 62-year-old man was robbed by three men who exited a red sedan. The offenders hit the man in the face with a gun and stole his wallet.
We've have tracked the crimes like those two across the city - many on the North and Northwest sides - for weeks now. This map shows just the incidents we've been able to get detailed information on since Nov. 14 - the last couple weeks.
They are all violent robberies involving weapons – and many involve robbery crews of three or four wearing ski masks.
So we took a look at the past year, and found the top five community areas and neighborhoods for robberies across Chicago - numbers that include violent robberies and hijackings.
They include Austin with 463, the Near West Side with 320, West Town with 313, the Near North Side with 289, and The Loop with 275.
Citywide, robberies have stayed just under 8,000 incidents in 2019, 2020, and 2021. To date, there are 7,638 robberies this year. It is noteworthy that robberies for some communities are driven up as crews pop in and out of neighborhoods, and a steep decline follows when the patterns stop.
We brought the most recent incidents to Chicago Police - learning they aren't connecting many of them. They are only connecting seven armed robberies and carjackings in West Town and West Rogers Park that we told you about over the holiday weekend.
Everything in the map above of violent robberies since Nov. 14 is still under investigation except for two incidents – in which the investigations are already suspended. Molina is told that status could change if police get new information on either.
A breakdown of the incidents follows:
Still under investigation, Monday, Nov, 14:
-400 block of West Arlington Place, Lincoln Park – three to four men in ski masks displayed a gun and robbed man of an unspecified age and a 31-year-old woman at 10:50 p.m..
Suspended, Monday, Nov. 14:
-2000 block of North Orleans Street, Lincoln Park – three to four men in ski masks displayed a gun, ordered a couple – ages 26 and 27 – to the ground, and robbed them at 11:10 p.m.
Still under investigation, Tuesday Nov. 15/Wednesday, Nov. 16:
-800 block of West Sunnyside Avenue, Uptown – three men with gun rob two women of laptops, phones around 11 a.m.
-800 block of West Sunnyside Avenue, Uptown – two men rob a man at gunpoint.
-5000 block of North Kenmore Avenue, Uptown – three men in ski masks with guns rob man.
Suspended, Thursday, Nov. 17:
-6400 block of North Claremont Avenue, West Rogers Park – group of men rob 35-year-old man.
Still under investigation, Thursday, Nov. 17:
-4800 block of West Ainslie Street, North Mayfair –five men rob man at gunpoint around 1:30 a.m.
Still under investigation, Saturday, Nov. 19:
-300 block of West Walton Street, Near North Side – two men with guns carjack woman.
-200 block of South Wells Street, Loop – men rob and carjack man at gunpoint.
Still under investigation, Sunday, Nov. 20:
-2600 block of North Burling Street, Lincoln Park – three men rob couple at gunpoint around 2:25 a.m.
-500 block of West Belden Avenue, Lincoln Park – three men rob couple at gunpoint around 3 a.m.
Still under investigation, Friday, Nov. 25:
-800 block of North Campbell Avenue, West Town – masked men rob man, fail with his SUV around 7:30 a.m.
-800 block of North Rockwell Street, West Town – masked men robbed woman of her purse around 7:40 a.m.
-800 block of North Campbell Avenue, West Town – carjacking around 7:45 a.m.
- 6400 block of North Hoyne Avenue, West Rogers Park – Three men rob woman at gunpoint around 8 a.m.
-6500 block of North Damen Avenue, West Rogers Park – Men rob woman, end up crashing, at 8:11 a.m.
-6000 block of North Campbell Avenue, West Rogers Park – men attempt to carjack at gunpoint, but end up robbing him of wallet at gunpoint.
-6200 block of North Claremont Avenue, West Rogers Park – robbery of wallets at gunpoint.
-1300 block of North Maplewood Avenue, West Town – robbery of woman at gunpoint.
No police report found, Friday, Nov. 25:
-Leavitt Street and Arthur Avenue, West Rogers Park – carjacking around 8:10 a.m
Police say: "A suspended status means the case cannot proceed further at this time. That can happen for a variety of reasons, including detectives exhausting all leads currently available.
"It is not a permanent status and it can be changed if and when more information becomes available.
"Anyone with information is urged to contact police or submit an anonymous tip online at CPDTIP.com."
There are no arrests in any of the robberies above.
