Three women were robbed and at times assaulted in separate incidents over the course of 25 minutes in Chicago’s Lakeview, police said Friday.
The startling string of Thursday incidents comes on the heels of a four-robbery pattern in the neighborhoods of Lakeview and Lincoln Park, according to CWB Chicago, which was the first to report the news. Robberies citywide are up 8% for the last 28-day period, which ended on November 28, according to department crime statistics.
The first incident on Thursday happened around 5:10 p.m. local time in North Southport Avenue and West Byron Street, where the victim was "grabbed from behind by an unknown offender and thrown to the ground," according to Chicago Police Department.
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The suspect then took her belongings before fleeing from the area, cops said. The victim said she did not need medical attention. Police did not say what specifically was stolen.
Then, approximately nine-tenths of a mile away, a 68-year-old woman was walking on West School Street near North Lakewood Avenue at about 5:23 p.m. when a stranger approached her from behind, police said.
The pair began to struggle when he tried to grab her bag, at which point the man "struck the victim in the face with his fist," police said. He then fled with her belongings.
The victim was expected to be OK.
Lastly, at 5:35 p.m., a 23-year-old woman was about 0.9 miles away on West Grace Street when two men tried to take her cell phone. They then ran off into a nearby alleyway.
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Police have not provided any information or descriptions for the possible suspects.
Authorities are still investigating, and it was not immediately clear if the three robberies were related to each other, or to other robberies in the area.