A man was arrested at a CTA Red Line station Thursday afternoon in connection with an armed robbery in the Lake View neighborhood on the North Side.
The man, whose age was unknown, was suspected of robbing a 27-year-old woman at gunpoint about 3:20 p.m. in the 3100 block of North Kenmore Avenue while armed with a gun, according to Chicago police.
He ran off and was spotted by an officer at the Belmont station, located at 945 West Belmont Ave., and was taken into custody, police said.
At a press conference after the arrest, Officer Timothy Kroski said he saw someone matching the robber’s description, which included a red clothing item, get on a southbound train. He was able to pull open to the doors of the train and grab hold of the man, who he knew to be armed.
A gun was recovered and the man was taken into custody. Charges were pending as he was being interviewed, police said.
Commander Marc Buslik of the 19th District said at the press conference that deploying officers to nearby CTA stations after robberies has helped the district increase robbery related arrests.
“From assessments in the past we discovered that robbery offenders would typically use the Red Line to come up to the district and then get on the train and flee,” Buslik said.
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Officers were dispatched to the Belmont station after the first reports of the robbery, Buslik said.
“What we saw today is a sergeant and seven police officers who knew where to be and when they should be there,” he said.
The officers also recovered a debit card that had been stolen from the woman. The incident was captured on a body camera, Buslik said, but the footage had not yet been released.
