(Above) A red Google Map marker at upper left shows the 1000 block of North Wells Street, between Walter Payton College Prep and Moody Bible Institute. Washington Square Park and Newberry Library are at lower right. (Click on image to view larger version.)

August 27, 2015 – Asking for directions escalated to armed robbery early Tuesday morning on North Wells Street near Walter Payton College Prep.

Just before 5 a.m., a man was robbed at gunpoint of his wallet and mobile phone by two men in a small, newer model hatchback car.

According to Chicago Police Department, the men pulled alongside the victim as he walked in the 1000 block of North Wells Street. They asked him for directions, then pointed a handgun at him and told him to drop his bag, jacket, wallet, and mobile phone on the ground and walk away.

The robbers are both described as black men, 20 to 30 years old, with dark complexions. One weighs about 160 pounds, the other 190 to 245 pounds. The car they were driving was dark blue or black.

The same men are suspected in a robbery that happened less than an hour later in the 600 block of South Wells Street. In that incident, the robbers, in a car, followed their victim down an alley, pulled up and robbed him at gunpoint.