Five men crashed an SUV into a BP gas station in the 6800 block of South Pulaski Road on Chicago's Southwest Side, tried and failed to rip an ATM out of the building, and then sped off empty-handed in a second vehicle, according to Chicago police. No injuries were reported, and no one was in custody as of Friday.
Police said the men abandoned the SUV used to ram the station and fled eastbound in a separate getaway vehicle, leaving the first car behind at the scene. As CBS News Chicago reports, the men entered the gas station in the West Lawn neighborhood but could not get the ATM out before fleeing without taking anything. Area One detectives are conducting an ongoing investigation into the incident, which occurred Friday.
A Familiar Pattern Across Chicago
The Pulaski Road attempt echoes a string of similar crash-and-grab jobs that have hit Chicago gas stations throughout the year, though nothing in the record ties this particular incident to any other case. Just three days earlier, burglars crashed a blue Jeep into an Uptown gas station in the 5100 block of North Broadway and made off with the ATM inside, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. In that case, a witness told officers three people in a black SUV entered through the hole the Jeep had punched in the wall and hauled the machine away.
A similar scene played out in Englewood, where police investigated a crash-and-grab at a Mobil station near 63rd and Halsted streets. Someone drove a red SUV into the building before suspects went inside and stole the ATM, according to ABC7 Chicago. Earlier in the year, police said suspects rammed a stolen car into four gas stations across Bronzeville and Woodlawn between May 18 and May 22, with three to five offenders smashing into the buildings and fleeing in a second vehicle each time, FOX 32 Chicago reported.
Not Every Attempt Succeeds
Friday's failed grab isn't the only time thieves have walked away empty-handed. At a BP station at 2800 West 55th Street, suspects tried to pry an ATM from the wall and even used an electric saw, but the machine wouldn't budge, according to a report from CWB Chicago. That same outlet has tied at least 11 business burglaries citywide to the same crime spree since mid-January, including one in which a crew used an SUV and a chain to rip an ATM straight out of New York Food Mart & Deli on North Broadway in Uptown.
Other hits have been more successful for the thieves. Five people stole an ATM from a Shell gas station at West 35th Street and South Damen Avenue in May after driving a car straight through the building's facade, according to McKinley Park News. An armed crew also struck nine South Side businesses across seven neighborhoods between July 21 and August 4, ripping out ATMs mostly during early-morning hours between roughly 2:30 and 5 a.m., per a report from Chicago Crime Chaser.
Business Owners Weigh Their Options
At a May beat meeting, Chicago police officers described the broader wave of ATM thefts and attempted thefts hitting McKinley Park and nearby neighborhoods, according to the same McKinley Park News report. Community Policing Officer Carlos Aldana explained the typical method behind the crimes, saying crews use one vehicle to breach a building and a second to haul away the machine and escape. Aldana said business owners facing steep repair costs are increasingly deciding to get rid of their ATMs altogether.
No arrests have been announced in connection with Friday's incident on South Pulaski Road, and Area One detectives continue to investigate. Police have not said whether the men or either SUV involved have been identified.
