Two teenage boys, aged 16 and 17 years old, shocked Chicago when they robbed an 80-year-old woman walking down the street in one of the city’s wealthiest neighborhoods.
Surveillance camera video captured a clear image of the alleged robbers as they fled down the street.
After police released the image to the media, it didn’t take long for family members of the two young men to bring them into the police.
“They were brought in by family members after the family members say a news segment with a picture of the offenders,” said Chicago Police Officer Jose Estrada.
“This happened yesterday. They were brought in early morning. Both were charged with one count of felony robbery of a victim over the age of 60 and one count of aggravated battery of a victim over the age of 60,” said Estrada.
While the photograph of the suspects is being widely circulated, their names, where they are being held, and their mugshots are not being released.
“Unfortunately, because they are juveniles, that is pretty much all that we are authorized to release to the public at this point,” said Estrada.
That also includes their bond amounts and court dates.
The boys robbed the elderly woman in the Lincoln Park neighborhood, named for the park that runs along the river on the east side of the area.
Lincoln Park is one of the wealthiest and most expensive communities in Chicago, with single family homes costing an average of over $2 million, while the average of all home types, including apartments, is around $450,000, according to Zillow.
The teens robbed the woman in broad daylight in the 1400 block of West Lill Street, shown here. Screenshot via Google Maps
In 2007, Forbes magazine named a section of the neighbourhood, the block bordered by Armitage Avenue, Willow Street, Burling Street, and Orchard Street, as the most expensive block in Chicago.
The daylight robbery happened at 5:18 p.m. in the 1400 block of West Lill Street, according to the Chicago Police.
The teens allegedly pushed the elderly woman into the Bushes and took her purse.
While daylight robberies are rare in the upscale neighborhood, Chicago has other neighborhoods that regularly rank as some of the most dangerous in the entire country.
According to FBI crime statistics compiled by media outlets to rank America’s most dangerous neighborhoods, Chicago’s Algeld Gardens neighborhood was the third most dangerous area in the country last year.
The city’s Auburn Gresham neighborhood, meanwhile, ranked as the most dangerous neighborhood in the country in 2015.
Gunshots are heard regularly in Chicago’s poorer areas and the city has some of the highest homicide rates in the country.
As of press time, the city has already seen 486 homicides in 2017.
