HYDE PARK — Police are searching for two men believed to be connected to three recent robberies in Hyde Park, according to a security alert sent by the University of Chicago.
Marlon Lynch, vice president of safety and security at the university, said in the alert that two university students and another person were robbed on Wednesday and Thursday and the University of Chicago Police Department believes the three are linked.
In all three instances, victims described two black men between the ages of 17 and 20 years old wearing jogging suits, one green and one blue.
At 11:45 p.m. on Wednesday, two men came up from behind a student walking by 5425 S. Blackstone Ave. and took the student’s cellphone.
A few hours later, at 1:25 a.m. Thursday, two men got out of a dark colored sedan, possibly a Chrysler, in the 1200 block of East 54th Street and took a laptop and the wallets of two students walking down the street before getting back in the car and driving away.
There were no reported injuries in either of the first two robberies.
Shortly after at 1:40 a.m. Thursday, two men approached a person walking by 5201 S. Ingleside Ave., pulled out a handgun, struck the man and took his book bag.
The man declined medical attention.
In the first two robberies, the victims said they saw one of the men pull something from his jogging suit, but were not sure if it was a weapon.
The Chicago Police Department is investigating all three robberies.
Although violent crime has been on the decline, the university recently announced it would increase patrols and expand the ranks of its police force to address perceptions of neighborhood crime.
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