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Jiu-Jitsu Competitors Robbed On Bucktown Street By Armed Man

By Alisa Hauser | August 14, 2017 7:52am | Updated on August 14, 2017 1:33pm
 Three out-of-town competitors in a martial arts tournament were robbed at gunpoint at Honore and Cortland, Chicago police said.
Three out-of-town competitors in a martial arts tournament were robbed at gunpoint at Honore and Cortland, Chicago police said.
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DNAinfo/Alisa Hauser

BUCKTOWN — Two women and a man — visiting Chicago from Costa Rica for a martial arts tournament — were knocked to the ground by robbers at gunpoint Sunday in Bucktown, police said.

The robbery occurred about 9:15 p.m. in the 1800 block of West Cortland Street, according to Officer Nicole Trainor, a Chicago Police Department spokeswoman.

Trainor said three people — two women, ages 25 and 29, and a man, 22 — were walking on the block when they were confronted by two men, one of whom was armed with a gun. 

The robbers knocked the three victims to the ground and took their belongings, Trainor said, and fled westbound.

All three of the victims refused medical attention. No one is in custody, and Area North detectives continue to investigate the incident, Trainor said.

Anyone with information should call 312-744-8263.

John Burks, a Bucktown resident, said on Monday that the robbery happened in front of the apartment building where he lives, just a few doors east of the Cortland and Honore streets.

One of the three robbery victims is Burks' friend and all three are from Costa Rica, Burks said. The group had traveled to Chicago to compete in the Chicago Summer International Open, a Jiu-Jitsu Championship last weekend.

"They are shaken up, but OK," Burks said.

Late Sunday, Bucktown residents who were discussing the incident on Facebook said they saw police officers at Honore and Cortland.

"On behalf of the Bucktown Community Organization, we are glad that the victims were not hurt, and we are desperate for dozens of more police in our area," Steve Jensen, the group's president, said in a statement early Monday.

The robbery appears to have happened on the border of two Bucktown police beats.

There are Bucktown community police meetings scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday, according to an online calendar on the Shakespeare Police District's website.

Beat 1434 will meet at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday in the second-floor community room at the Bucktown-Wicker Park Library at 1701 N. Milwaukee Ave.

Beat 1434 is bordered by Armitage Avenue on the north, North Avenue on the south, Wood Street on the east, and Rockwell Street on the west.

Beat 1433 will gather at 6:30 p.m. Thursday in the Pulaski Park Field House at 1419 W. Blackhawk St.

Beat 1433 is bordered by Wood Street on the west, the Chicago River on the east, Division Street on the south and Armitage Avenue on the north.

More information on particular beats and meetings is available on the Police Department's website. Residents also can follow the local police on Twitter at @ChicagoCAPS14.