An armed group of two to four people broke into a gas station in the 200 block of West 63rd Street in Englewood early Friday morning, dragged the business's ATM outside, and loaded it into a black SUV. Chicago Police say no arrests have been made in the case.
Surveillance video captured the theft, which happened around 4:45 a.m. in the 200 block of West 63rd Street, according to CBS News Chicago. A witness told the outlet the suspects were armed during the break-in.
A man identified only as Quintrell described the scene in blunt terms. “It was terrifying, I was terrified, they came with their guns out,” he said.
Area One Detectives Take Over the Investigation
Area One detectives are now handling the case, the station's report notes.
No suspects have been identified publicly, and detectives have not said whether the Englewood theft is connected to any other recent case. The incident nonetheless lands in the middle of a year defined by similar early-morning hits on Chicago storefronts, often carried out by crews using stolen SUVs to rip ATMs loose before transferring the machines into getaway vehicles.
A Citywide Pattern of Predawn ATM Thefts
In July, armed suspects targeted ATMs at five businesses; accounts described a silver Honda Accord or a black Jeep.
The scale of the problem became clear in May, when Chicago Police advisories linked a single burglary crew to at least 25 commercial break-ins across the city between April 20 and May 13, using methods including pry bars and vehicles, Hoodline previously reported. In April, the department coordinated a multi-unit enforcement mission involving Area Three detectives, the Citywide Robbery Task Force and the ATF, which resulted in charges against two juveniles following a three-store morning spree.
Gas stations and ATMs have both been targets. Burglars rammed an SUV through a Shell gas station minimart at Belmont and Milwaukee Avenues in the Avondale neighborhood to steal an indoor ATM before fleeing in a separate getaway car.
What Suspects Could Face If Caught
Under Illinois law, entering a commercial building without authority to commit theft is charged as a Class 2 felony, punishable by three to seven years in state prison and fines up to $25,000. Illinois also has an Automated Teller Machine Security Act.
Any suspects eventually arrested would be processed under Illinois' SAFE-T Act, which eliminated cash bail statewide in September 2023. Under that law, judges assess pretrial detention for property crime suspects based on individual risk evaluations rather than requiring a monetary bond.
For now, the Englewood theft adds to a growing list of similar strikes across the city this year, from a Jeep crashing into a Rogers Park burger spot in an attempted ATM burglary to a predawn hit at a South Shore gas station, an ATM theft at an Avondale BP and an unsuccessful attempt to remove one at a nearby laundromat. Detectives have not said whether these cases are the work of one centralized ring or separate crews copying the same tactics, leaving business owners across Chicago bracing for the next predawn hit.
