Police: No Link Between CTA Robberies

Oak Park police say there is no connection between last week's armed robbery near the Austin Boulevard CTA Green Line stop and the spate of incidents that last year happened on CTA lines in and around the village. 

“Those (robberies) took place on El platforms,” said Oak Park Police Det. Sgt. Michael Richardson.

In the January 2012 incidents, authorities warned commuters after a group of men were carrying out violent attacks or displaying a handgun in an effort to rob them. The victims were approached while riding, exiting or walking home from the Green Line or waiting at a bus stop, according to media reports.

The victim in the Feb. 19 attack, a 24-year-old Chicago man, was pistolwhipped in the back of the head and his iPod was stolen. That incident took place around 2:50 p.m. under the viaduct at Humphrey Avenue and North Boulevard, police said. The victim suffered minor injuries.

The man told police another man approached him, displayed the gun and told him to go back underneath the viaduct. There, the assailant placed the victim in a headlock, stated “what you got,” and took the iPod and ran away.

A second offender stood on the opposite side of the street and appeared to be acting as a look-out, the victim told police.

The first offender was a black male between 25 and 30 years old, about 5 foot 10 inches tall, and was last seen wearing  black jeans, a black hooded sweatshirt and black shoes, police said. The second offender was between 25 and 30 years of age, with a light complexion, about 5 foot 6 inches tall wearing a black skull cap and black coat.

Anyone with information is asked to call the Oak Park Police Department at (708) 386-3800 or by calling the department's Crime Tip Hotline at (708) 434-1636.