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3 Teen Girls — One 13 Years Old — Charged In Beatings Of Women Downtown

By  Joe Ward and David Matthews | October 28, 2016 12:48pm | Updated on October 31, 2016 8:47am

 Police say these people are beating and mugging women as they walk the Loop alone at night.
Police say these people are beating and mugging women as they walk the Loop alone at night.
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Chicago Police Department

THE LOOP — Three girls, one just 13 years old, have been charged in the late night attacks on lone women in the Loop, according to Chicago Police.

The girls — two 15-year-olds and the 13-year-old — have been accused beating and robbing at least three women walking alone in the Loop since Sunday, police said.

In the incidents, the girls would walk up to a lone woman and attack her before stealing their property, police said. At least one of the attacks was caught on security cameras.

RELATED: These People Are Mugging And Beating Woman In The Loop, Police Say

The girls turned themselves in after police released stills from the surveillance cameras, according to a police statement Friday.

Listen to David Matthews describe the arrests of the teen attackers.

They are slated to appear in Juvenile Court Friday, police said.

Though only three people were arrested in the case, the attackers were in groups of five to eight people, police said in a community alert.

The group attacked the victims from all fronts before taking their backpacks, tablets, cellphones, and other valuables, police said.

The robberies occurred at:

• 9 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 16 in the 100 block of North Michigan Avenue

• 9:12 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 16 in the 200 block of East Randolph Street

• 10 p.m. Wednesday, Oct. 19 in the first block of East Van Buren Street

The crimes are shocking to women who live and work Downtown. One of those shocked is Kate Tritschler, 27, of Uptown, who started a new job Downtown about 10 months ago after working in the suburbs.

Tritschler said she didn't expect anyone getting robbed "that early" at night in such a visible area Downtown. She also wouldn't expect teenage girls to attack women. 

Now, she's thinking harder about "where her belongings are" and taking extra steps to hide them.

"I don't get scared easy, but this makes you think twice," she said. 

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