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Ice Cream Truck Robbed By Man With Assault Rifle In Avondale

By Paul Biasco | August 18, 2016 5:58am
 A man armed with a rifle robbed an ice cream truck in Avondale Saturday in the 3000 block of North Sawyer Avenue, according to police.
A man armed with a rifle robbed an ice cream truck in Avondale Saturday in the 3000 block of North Sawyer Avenue, according to police.
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DNAinfo/Paul Biasco

AVONDALE — A man with an assault rifle robbed an ice cream truck in Chicago's Avondale neighborhood last weekend and pointed the gun at a person waiting in line for ice cream, witnesses said. 

The ice cream truck was parked in the 3000 block of North Sawyer Avenue at 4:35 p.m. Saturday to sell ice cream in 83-degree heat.

That's when a man pulled up in a car and stuck up the ice cream man.

"He pulled over, got out, just walked up, and he was talking to him for a while kind of calmly before he pointed the gun at him," said a witness, who asked to remain anonymous. "The driver was kind of confused. He was like 'what are you asking me?'"

The robber then turned the gun on a man waiting at the truck's window to buy ice cream.

"What are you looking at?" the thief asked him, according to the witness.

During the robbery, the gunman ordered the ice cream man to throw his keys out of the truck, the witness said. The driver followed the instructions, and the gunman grabbed the money and drove off in the car he arrived in.

"How much money can an ice cream truck have?" said Nourhy Beatriz, a Logan Square resident who has ordered from the victim before. "It's ridiculous. It's sad. It's in a neighborhood full of kids, and it's supposed to be a nice neighborhood."

In the days since the robbery, the ice cream man has returned to his usual spot, according to neighbors on the block. He told the witness "you just have to keep going."

The driver has been driving an ice cream truck for about 20 years, according to the witness.

Beatriz described the truck as an older truck that sells classic Good Humor-type ice cream and paletas.

"I feel really sorry for the guy," she said.

Police sent out a community alert after the robbery and two others, which they said they believe are all connected. The alert initially did not mention the ice cream truck.

Police later confirmed the victim in Avondale was an ice cream truck driver.

The police alert indicated a robber had been using an assault weapon to carjack drivers in Bucktown and Avondale, first pulling a gun and demanding the keys of a driver in the 2700 block of North Western Avenue at 11:42 a.m. Saturday.

Police said the same robber struck again at the Sawyer address, less than a block from Avondale Elementary School.

Police initially said that incident was a carjacking, but witnesses said it was an armed robbery.

The third incident in the alert occurred in the 2600 block of North Elston Avenue at 8:15 p.m. Saturday.

RELATED: Carjacker With Assault Rifle Steals Three Cars In Bucktown And Avondale

The robber is described as a black man between 25 and 42 years old, standing between 5-foot-11 and 6-foot-4 and weighing 170 to 180 pounds, police said. He was seen wearing a maroon/burgundy cardigan, a brown polo, gray sweatpants and either a black baseball hat or a beige, floppy fishing hat.

Anyone with information on the cases is asked to call area detectives at 312-744-8263.

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