BRIDGEPORT — Authorities are investigating a series of residential burglaries that have taken place throughout the Bridgeport and McKinley Park neighborhoods in recent weeks.
On Friday, police issued alerts on residential burglary incidents in which thieves forced or kicked open doors and ransacked local homes and apartments in the daytime hours. The incidents include:
- 3600 Block of S. Damen Ave. on March 26
- 3500 Block of S. Honore St. on March 29
- 3600 Block of S. Damen Ave. on April 2
- 3400 Block of S. Leavitt St. on March 28
- 3500 Block of S. Artesian Ave. on March 30
- 3300 Block of S. Bell Ave. on April 7
- 3300 Block of S. Bell Ave. on April 7
Anyone with information about those burglaries is asked call police at 312-747-8382.
According to online Chicago Police Department statistics, there have been at least 35 burglaries from March 1 to April 2, a mix of break-ins to businesses and homes in the Deering District, which encompasses 14 square miles and serves a number of South Side neighborhoods, including Armour Square, Bridgeport, Canaryville, McKinley Park and Back of the Yards.
They include a March 17 incident in which roughly $8,500 in cash, electronics and jewelry — including an heirloom engagement ring — were swiped from a home.
The victim in that incident, who did not want be identified, said the troubling daytime burglary was the last straw after a nearly decade-long tenure in Bridgeport.
“We are moving. Leaving the neighborhood as soon as possible. We’d started to look around already … after this, we’ve put it into high gear,” the victim said.
The burglary victim, who believes the family's Bridgeport home was one of several staked out and targeted by thieves in recent weeks, has installed black iron bars over new reinforced doors and added strong locks to exterior gates.
“You know what? I don’t want to live like that and I shouldn’t have to. It’s scary,” the victim said.
A police department spokesman said burglaries in the Deering District "are down almost 12 perecent and robberies are down almost 11 percent."
