Multiple police departments are investigating what is believed to be a rash of robberies at Mexican restaurants and stores through the Chicago area.
Police say the suspect has robbed locations in Des Plaines, Elk Grove Village, Schaumburg, Mount Prospect and two stories on Chicago’s South Side. All of the businesses were Mexican restaurants or grocery stores.
The first robbery happened in Mount Prospect on Dec. 7. Victims say a man entered the restaurant and looked at a menu before pulling out a gun and demanding cash.
A few weeks later a string of robberies, one after another on the evening of Dec. 30, were reported. A waitress at Marisco’s Miramar in Elk Grove Village told NBC 5 the suspect ordered tacos before displaying a gun and robbing the eatery.
“When she opened the cash register he walked around here and then put a gun to her side and told her ‘don’t look at me—just give me the money,’” Solangel Mendivil, a manager at the restaurant said.
The owner of Nuevo Mexico in Des Plaines offered a warning for other business owners.
“All those who have businesses especially small stores should not keep a lot of cash up in the cashier box,” Jorge Escobedo said. “Instead they should put them in another place to hide them, because that's what this person is taking from register.”
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A grocery story in the 100 block of North Salem in Schaumburg was also robbed on Dec. 30, the same day as the other two stores were robbed.
“As soon as I was about to close the register, I looked at him and he already had the gun pointed at me and told me ‘don’t scream, or move, or I’ll shoot you,’” Eliba Pacheco, a cashier at the store, told NBC 5. “And I backed away from the register.”
Police say they are also investigating robberies that appear to follow the same pattern in the Gage Park neighborhood in Chicago.
Two restaurants were robbed at gunpoint, one on Dec. 6 in the 5400 block of South Kedzie Avenue, the other on Dec. 27 in the 2500 block of West 51st Street, police said.
An investigation was ongoing.
