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Armed Robber Tells Victim, 'Police Killed My Girl'

By Mark Schipper | March 31, 2016 6:12am

CHICAGO — A man driving a Jeep Wrangler held up two people at gunpoint within a square-mile area the morning of March 14 in Rogers Park, police said. 

Both robberies occurred between 5:30 and 5:45 a.m., with the first taking place in the 6900 block of North Ravenswood Avenue and the second in the 1300 block of West Devon Avenue, according to separate but linked police reports of the incidents.

During the second robbery, the gunman told his victim that he did not care about his family or children because police had “killed my girl,” according to the victim’s statement. 

In both robberies, the gunman used what was described as a dark-colored, hoodless Jeep Wrangler with a snowplow attachment to approach his targets.

The first victim, a 30-year-old ambulance driver, encountered the robber as the victim walked to his vehicle on Ravenswood Avenue around 5:30 a.m., police said. 

The victim told police he first saw the Jeep driving wildly eastbound on Farwell Avenue toward Clark Street, where it swung into the driveway of the Rogers Park Hand Car Wash, careened back out and headed west toward him, eventually pulling next to his vehicle and stopping.

The Jeep driver asked the man for directions to Touhy Avenue, and the victim told him to follow him as he headed toward Touhy. But before the victim could pull out, the man in the Jeep sped forward, slammed on his brakes and jumped out, this time carrying a handgun, according to police. 

Walking to the victim’s vehicle, the gunman stuck the weapon through the partially opened driver’s side window and ordered the man to give him all of his money, threatening to shoot him if he made eye contact or looked at his face, the victim told police. 

The victim surrendered $20, but he said the gunman told him was that was not enough. The robber then took the victim's wallet, credit cards and an ID before taking his car keys and throwing them down the street. Just before speeding off, he told the victim he would kill him if he reported the incident, according to the report. 

The second robbery was about 10 minutes later, when the Jeep driver swung next to a moving vehicle in the 1300 block of West Devon Avenue and flashed a handgun, according to police. The 24-year-old victim told police the driver shouted at him to pull over, and he did, across the street from Heartland Health Centers, according to the police report. 

The gunman got out of the Jeep, approached the victim with the gun and demanded money and a cellphone while threatening to shoot the man if he did not comply, police said. 

The victim said he pleaded with the gunman, telling him he had kids and would give him what he wanted. The gunman responded that he did not care about the man’s kids because police had killed his girl, according to the police report.

After taking the victim’s cellphone and emptying his wallet, the Jeep driver threw it at him through the open window and walked back to the Jeep, heading east before turning north onto Lakewood Avenue, police said. 

Officers toured the area of the robberies but did not find anything matching the vehicle and did not make any arrests. The investigation is ongoing. 

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