Chicago police are searching for two suspects accused of breaking into North Park restaurants and making off with their cash registers. The thefts add to a run of similar smash-and-grabs that have rattled restaurant and shop owners across the city in recent months.
According to CBS News Chicago, investigators are looking for the pair after the smash-and-grabs at restaurants in the North Park neighborhood, though the outlet's report does not name the businesses hit, give a confirmed incident date, or say how much cash was taken. The two-suspect account marks a notable shift from a September 2024 report by cbsnews.com, which said police were hunting four masked men wanted for breaking into and stealing from at least three businesses spanning Portage Park and North Park. It is not established in available reporting whether the two suspects sought now are connected to those four men from 2024.
The 2024 account described a consistent method: thieves in dark face masks and gloves who broke through a business's glass window before going straight for the cash registers, safes and office areas inside. That earlier North Park burglary was pinned to the 3300 block of West Bryn Mawr Avenue, the same report noted.
The Same Block Turns Up Again
The 3300 block of West Bryn Mawr Avenue resurfaced more recently in a separate account from cwbchicago.com, which logged a commercial burglary there at 2:04 a.m. on October 7. That report placed the North Park incident inside a much larger pattern: detectives were also investigating a separate burglary series tied to a white SUV that began in August and ran through early October, involving a man in dark clothing and gloves who took cash straight from registers, the outlet reported.
Police told the outlet the pattern amounts to a surge in commercial burglaries that has targeted at least 35 shops and restaurants over a two-month span. That scale lines up with citywide numbers tracked separately by ABC7's crime unit, which reported that burglaries citywide are up 15% over the past 12 months compared to the average of the previous three years, according to abc7chicago.com.
Lakeview and Lincoln Park Have Seen Their Own Break-Ins
North Park is far from the only neighborhood dealing with overnight hits on small businesses. The same ABC7 report detailed multiple early-morning business burglaries on North Southport Avenue in Lakeview, including one around midnight in the 3300 block and another at 2:29 a.m. in the 3400 block. Investigators there described a suspect wearing a surgical mask, gray hooded sweatshirt, gloves, black pants, a black backpack and black gym shoes, the report said. It added that Lakeview break-ins have climbed steadily, from fewer than 200 in 2021 to nearly 300 in 2024, and even higher the following year.
A separate pair of burglaries hit Lincoln Park and Lake View restaurants on the same morning, according to fox32chicago.com. In both cases, police said four males used a rock to break the front glass door before stealing money and fleeing in a black Kia sedan. The first burglary happened at 1:50 a.m. in the 2800 block of North Lincoln Avenue, where suspects grabbed an unknown amount of cash from a drawer; about 10 minutes later, a second restaurant was hit and its safe and cash drawer were taken as well, the outlet reported.
Taken together, the pattern across North Park, Lakeview and Lincoln Park points to a citywide problem rather than an isolated string of break-ins. Chicago police have not released additional details on the two North Park suspects, and no arrests connected to that case have been confirmed in available reporting.
