WEST RIDGE — Desperate thieves who broke into two West Ridge homes in search of specific property earlier this month ended up triggering a still "very open" investigation with three law enforcement agencies — and left the crime scenes empty-handed, police said.
The first home invasion occurred around 7 a.m. April 2 in the 2700 block of West Jarvis Avenue when thieves broke into an inhabited home looking for specific items, police said.
When they discovered what they were looking for was not there, the would-be thieves physically injured the homeowners and demanded to know where their items were, police said during a community safety meeting Tuesday night.
Eventually the victims provided another address on the same block, and at 9:03 a.m. the burglars went on to the next home.
But when they tried to get in, a security alarm went off and Chicago Police arrived at the scene shortly after.
At a CAPS meeting Tuesday, Sgt. Shawn Sisk did not say what the burglars were looking for, but said they didn't get it, and the still-ongoing case now involves the Federal Bureau of Investigation and Drug Enforcement Administration, as well as the Chicago Police.
Sisk did say the home invasions were targeted and not part of a larger trend in the neighborhood, which had only one additional — but unrelated — forcible break-in in recent weeks, according to Chicago Police data.
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