(Above) Google Street View of area where an armed robbery occurred on a Sunday morning last month. (Click on images to view larger versions.)

12-Apr-16 – Sunday, March 20, was especially dangerous in downtown Chicago, with police responding to eleven reports of assaults and robberies.

The day started with a physical assault at a bar in the 300 block of West Erie Street in River North at 12:28 a.m. At 1:00 a.m., an assault was reported at an apartment in the 200 block of West Illinois Street.

Another assault at a bar at 2:20 a.m., this time in the Gold Coast neighborhood near the intersection of West Division Street and North State Street.

Back in River North. an assault was reported at 3:15 a.m. on a sidewalk in the 400 block of North Clark Street and, 15 minutes later, on a sidewalk near the intersection of Illinois and State.

At 3:57 a.m., at a restaurant in the 600 block of North State Street, an assault was reported, and then on the street in the 1000 block of North Dearborn at 4:49 a.m.

The day’s first robbery downtown happened at knifepoint at 5:00 a.m. on a Gold Coast sidewalk in the 100 block of West Division Street.

At 5:15 a.m., an assault was reported at a hotel in the Loop, in the 100 block of East Wacker Drive.

Man follows up $20 gift with $150 robbery

An armed robbery at 8:25 a.m. on March 20 happened in a Near North residential neighborhood (above) near the intersection of West Chestnut Street and North Clark Street, about one block south of Washington Square Park.

A 52-year-old man, who lives in the area, told police he was standing at the corner of Chestnut and Clark when a young black man walked up and asked for a cigarette. He told the man he did not smoke but took a $20 bill from his pocket and gave it to him.

He started walking east on Chestnut but less than a half-block later, noticed the man was behind him with a chrome revolver in his hand. He told the victim to “give me everything.”

He got another $150 and an Apple iPhone 6. The robber then went back to Clark and ran north.

The robber is described as 20 to 25 years old, six feet tall, 170 pounds, with brown eyes and short black hair. He was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and gray Chicago Blackhawks sweatpants.

The day’s last incident was an armed robbery in the Loop at 6:50 p.m. A knife was used in that robbery in the 100 block of South Wabash Avenue, one block west of Millennium Park.

The eleven assaults and robberies represented about one-third of all incidents reported to police on March 20 in the Loop north of Adams Street and in the Near North neighborhoods.

Young robbers out late, stealing phones

On Monday, Chicago police warned downtown residents of robberies in the Loop in March and April by very young black males, as young as ten years old.

Working individually or as a group, they approached people from behind, either on a sidewalk or CTA platform, and swiped mobile phones or headphones, “using physical force if necessary.”

Six robberies were reported…

Randolph Street between State and Wabash on Sunday, March 6, at 1:30 a.m.

State Street (above) in front of Macy’s and Block 37 on Thursday, March 17, at 7:30 p.m.

Wabash Avenue between Monroe and Adams on Thursday, March 31, at 10:15 p.m. Wabash between Randolph and Washington on Monday, April 4, at 11:40 a.m.

On Friday, April 1, there were two robberies – on Lake Street between State and Michigan at 9:25 p.m. and then ten minutes later, about six blocks south on Dearborn Street between Madison and Monroe.