12-Jul-20 – Chicago police are warning CTA passengers about a robbery crew that is targeting victims along the Red Line between Lincoln Park and the Loop.

They say the group is responsible for at least eight muggings on the Red Line since July 2.

Groups of between two and five men are demanding valuables from CTA customers on trains and platforms and, warns a community alert, they will attack victims who do not comply.

Robberies connected to the crew were reported on the Red Line at Clark/Division, Fullerton, Grand, Jackson, Lake, and Roosevelt stations.

The alert says the group consists of African-American men between 19 and 25 years old, five-feet-six-inches to six-feet tall, weighing 130-150 pounds.

Robbers slammed one victim’s head to floor of the train

According to the Grand station victim, one robber wore all-black clothing with a black mask, and one of the taller offenders wore a light-blue shirt.

The 27-year-old man told police he was riding a northbound Red Line train near Grand at around 7:30 p.m. on July 2 when a stranger leaned close and demanded his phone. When the victim refused, three more men approached, punched and kneed him in his face, then slammed his head onto the floor of the train, according to a CPD spokesperson. They took his phone and wallet, said the spokesperson, and fled when the train arrived at the Grand station.

An ambulance crew treated the man for injuries to his nose, eye, and head, but he did not want to go to a hospital, police said. About 15 minutes after the robbery, one of the victim’s stolen credit cards was used at Popeyes Louisiana Kitchen, 156 North Wabash Avenue.