UKRAINIAN VILLAGE — Police are looking for a gunman who robbed a Ukrainian Village boutique last Friday afternoon and stole the manager's wallet in addition to cash from the register.
"He came in and did a lap [of the store] and asked if it was a women's store. I said yes, and he said he's looking for something for his girlfriend," said Kitty Walton-Myers, manager of Ad Hoc, 1948 W. Chicago Ave.
Walton-Myers said that after the man pretended to look around the shop, around 1:30 p.m. last Friday, he walked up to the counter where she was sitting and pulled out a black semi-automatic handgun.
He said "get in the back," and forced her into the back of the store.
When the 28-year-old Walton-Myers turned slightly, she said the man told her: "Turn around and stay there, you stupid b----."
During the incident, the man took $120 cash from the store's register and Walton-Myers' wallet, which had her passport in it.
The man was described as white, older, with very tan and wrinkled skin, and wearing a large red plaid button down shirt that hung off of him.
"He looked like he came out of the Dust Bowl," Walton-Myers said, adding that he did not seem interested in any items in the store, only cash.
"He was upset there was not any more money; we are a small boutique," Walton-Myers said.
Ad Hoc will be celebrating its third anniversary soon and Walton-Myers said the armed robbery was the first time something like that has happened in the store.
"It's 1:30 p.m. in middle of the afternoon. Someone was even walking in as he was walking out; that's ballsy," she said.
Officer Michelle Tannehill, a Chicago Police spokesman, confirmed that a report was filed and police are investigating the robbery. Tannehill said the man is likely between 40-50 years old, about 5-foot-4 inches tall and weighs around 140 pounds with white short hair.
Walton-Myers posted about the incident on the store's Facebook page on Tuesday, along with a photo of the man taken on a security camera from a neighboring building.
"Please be aware that because of camera quality it makes him look darker than he is - he's a tanned white dude, 40-50yrs, grey mustache, maybe 5'4 and real skinny. He was wearing a RED plaid shirt, light denim jeans and grey beanie," Walton-Myers posted.
Walton-Myers said her wallet was later recovered, along with her passport, when someone found it under a car in a nearby alley.
