Chicago police are on the hunt for a brazen band of robbers that have already hit five stores on the city’s North Side.
Officials warned Chicago businesses the criminals are armed, dangerous, and most likely will strike again. The group of men typically strikes late at night or early in the morning, police say.
One 7-Eleven manager, whose convenience store was targeted by the criminals, shared his surveillance video with NBC Chicago.
In the footage two of the masked offenders can be seen entering the Wicker Park storefront waving their guns. They moving quickly through the front of the store and behind the counter as a third hooded suspect watches the front door. The owner says the whole hold-up was done in less than 30 seconds.
Police believe the same men are responsible for five other small retail shop robberies that were reported from June 17 through the middle of July.
The string of North Side robberies started at a Wicker Park 7-Eleven in the 1500 block of North Damen at 4:40 a.m.
Employees say a female was working by herself when they were robbed, and now their policy is to have at least two employees on the third shift.
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Some residents say the aggressive robbers have put the whole neighborhood on alert.
“It can happen anywhere,” one Bucktown resident told NBC Chicago. “We get off at 9 [at night] when it's dark out, so of course it bothers us.”
Chicago police ask store employees to call 911 if they witness a suspicious person that may be lingering around their business.
The offenders have been described as men between the ages of 17 and 25. They are described as between 5'7" to 5'11" tall and weighing approximately 150 -175 pounds. The men typically are wearing black hooded sweatshirts and white gloves while armed with handguns, according to police.
The robberies were reported to have taken place at the following times and places:
• 1500 block of N. Damen on June 17, 2015 at 4:40 a.m.
• 900 block of W. Armitage on June 26, 2015 at 4:00 a.m.
• 1400 block of N. Milwaukee on June 28, 2015 at 11:30 p.m.
• 2800 block of N. Ashland on July 3, 2015 at 12:30 a.m.
• 3500 lock of N. Pulaski on July 19, 2015 at 12:30 a.m.
