A lone stick-up man was shot and killed by Chicago police at a gas station near the Chicago-Harwood Heights border Wednesday morning.
Officers fired shots and struck a man near West Montrose Avenue and Forest Preserve Drive about 7 a.m., News Affairs Officer Laura Kubiak said.
The alleged gunman was spotted passing an undercover car. They followed him to a Marathon station, saw him put on a surgical mask and enter the station.
He emerged with what the cops say was a weapon, and was shot and killed in the following moments.
The Hispanic man is believed and alleged to have netted $200 to $2000 in each of 30 recent hold-ups of gas stations and Dollar Stores on the Northwest Side and four surrounding suburbs.
A Chicago Police/FBI task force, formed to address the large number of armed robberies, considered the surgical mask to be a known MO for the crimes.
An initial belief that there was an accomplice forced the closings of many nearby streets, but that is no longer the feeling.
No one aside from the gunman was injured in the incident, Independent Police Review Authority spokesman Mark Payne said.
The IPRA and Grand Central Area detectives are investigating.
