Chicago police on Thursday issued a community alert connected to a string of armed robberies on the city’s West and Southwest sides during the early hours of Thanksgiving morning.
In each of the dozen robberies, two to four men approached victims while brandishing black handguns or a long gun and demand their property, according to officials. It was not immediately clear whether all 12 robberies were related.
The robberies began at 7:20 a.m. on the Lower West Side neighborhood, the first occurring on the 2300 block of West 21st Street, and the next took place only five minutes later and less than a mile away on the 2000 block of West 23rd Street.
Five minutes after that, another robbery took place on the 1700 block of West Cermak Road . About an hour later, another robbery occurred on the 1900 block of Cermak Road.
At 7:47 a.m., a robbery occurred south of the Lower West Side neighborhood on the 3700 block of South Wolcott Avenue in McKinley Park. Police said that just eight minutes later, armed robbers targeted someone on the 4900 block of South Paulina Street in the New City neighborhood.
Another robbery occurred at 8 a.m. on the 4700 block of South Hermitage Avenue in New City, less than half a mile north from the previous robbery.
Within a span of 13 minutes beginning at 8:07 a.m., five more robberies took place: two in Gage Park, one in New City, another one in Gage Park and a final one in Chicago Lawn:
5800 block of South Sacramento Avenue at 8:07 a.m.
5000 block of South Fairfield Avenue at 8:08 a.m.
4700 block of South Honore Street at 8:10 a.m.
5200 block of South Rockwell Street at 8:15 a.m.
5900 block of South Mozart Street at 8:20 a.m.
Police are asking neighborhood residents to be aware of their surroundings and report any suspicious activity. If approached by one or more assailants, remain calm and remember any of the suspects’ unique physical characteristics, but never pursue them, police advised.
The suspects fled the scenes in a blue four-door sedan, possibly a Hyundai or Toyota. Police described the men as being between 17 and 25 years old, and said they were all wearing dark clothing and ski masks.
![The hot-button lawsuits related to Northwestern University’s hazing scandal — some alleging widespread abuse on the football team, another claiming ex-coach Pat Fitzgerald was wrongly fired — will be consolidated for the time being, a Cook County judge ruled this week. The decision came after attorneys representing ex-players accused Northwestern’s lawyers of using confidential information obtained in the ex-players’ lawsuit to help craft their strategy in the separate Fitzgerald case. A lawyer for Northwestern denied that accusation in court this week. But as a consequence, the cases are now on far different tracks than they were just a few weeks […]](https://www.chicagotribune.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/ctc-l-wildcats-hazing-lawsuit_181443613.jpg?w=525 "The hot-button lawsuits related to Northwestern University’s hazing scandal — some alleging widespread abuse on the football team, another claiming ex-coach Pat Fitzgerald was wrongly fired — will be consolidated for the time being, a Cook County judge ruled this week. The decision came after attorneys representing ex-players accused Northwestern’s lawyers of using confidential information obtained in the ex-players’ lawsuit to help craft their strategy in the separate Fitzgerald case. A lawyer for Northwestern denied that accusation in court this week. But as a consequence, the cases are now on far different tracks than they were just a few weeks […]")