Chicago police say a 16-year-old boy is behind a months-long streak of stickups and a gunpoint carjacking that hopscotched across the city's North and Northwest sides, ending with his arrest on Thursday.
The teen, not identified because he is a juvenile, was taken into custody near Spaulding Avenue and 19th Street. He is scheduled for a juvenile detention hearing on Friday, where a judge will decide whether he stays locked up while the case moves forward.
What the police say
According to the Chicago Police Department, the boy is charged with three counts of armed robbery, two counts of burglary, and one count of aggravated vehicular hijacking with a firearm. Investigators allege the incidents began in January and stretched through April, targeting drivers and small businesses in several neighborhoods.
Police say it started on January 3 with the robbery of a 40-year-old man in the 3000 block of North Ashland, followed minutes later by burglaries in the 2600 block of North Lincoln and the 3100 block of North Broadway. Fast-forward to April 23, when detectives allege the teen took part in a carjacking of a 45-year-old woman around 12:20 a.m. in the 1100 block of North Harding, then was involved within about three hours in armed robberies in the 300 block of West Chicago Avenue and the 2300 block of North Damen.
Those details come from the Chicago Police Department account reported by FOX 32 Chicago.
Short bursts of juvenile crime
The arrest fits a pattern Chicago has seen this spring: quick, small-team robberies that jump between neighborhoods in a matter of hours instead of one long, drawn-out operation.
A recent piece that tracked a multi-day armed-robbery blitz resulted in juvenile arrests, and NBC Chicago reported on a separate multi-neighborhood burglary spree in mid-April that police tied to young suspects. Together, those outlets note that investigators are increasingly coordinating across units to keep up with mobile crews that can hit several areas in a single night.
What happens next
The teen, still unnamed publicly because he is a minor, is due at a juvenile detention hearing on Friday as officials decide whether he will remain in custody while the case unfolds. If he is detained, the matter will stay in juvenile court for now, where different rules and stricter records protections apply.
Prosecutors could still seek to transfer the case to adult court depending on how strong they believe the evidence is, a move that would significantly raise the stakes for the accused teenager.
Police are asking anyone with additional information to contact detectives or submit an anonymous tip. For more detail on the case and the department’s account, see the Chicago Police Department statement reported by FOX 32 Chicago.
