A black SUV crashed into a bar on the 2000 block of North Western Avenue early Saturday, and several people jumped out and rushed inside before fleeing empty-handed, according to Chicago police. The attempted smash-and-grab burglary happened at about 4:17 a.m., leaving the bar's front door smashed in but nothing reported stolen.
Police said the people who entered the bar left without taking any property, according to ABC7 Chicago, which first reported the incident. Video obtained by the station shows the aftermath of the crash, with the bar's entrance left in splinters. No arrests have been made, and investigators have not released details about the SUV or the people who ran inside.
The Logan Square incident lands in the middle of a run of similar burglaries that have rattled business owners across Chicago's Northwest Side in recent weeks. Earlier this month, a crew threw bricks through the windows of at least 23 businesses in Portage Park, Avondale, Logan Square and Wicker Park, with four of those hits landing along Milwaukee Avenue in Logan Square itself, according to Block Club Chicago.
A Pattern of Overnight Break-Ins
The owner of the Crab Pad, one of the businesses hit in that spree, estimated her damage topped $5,000 even though the intruders only managed to grab a cash register and a computer, the outlet reported. Not every burglary in the string led to a payout for the offenders — a break-in at Avondale coffee shop Terra caused about $600 in damage without any items being taken, per the same report.
CBS News Chicago has reported that police are searching for the people responsible for more than 20 overnight business break-ins, most concentrated on the Northwest Side. In that case, police said a group of four people used a brick and other heavy objects to smash glass storefronts, and investigators believe a red sedan used in the break-ins was stolen. A Portage Park restaurant alone absorbed about $4,000 in damage in a matter of seconds, the station reported, and as of its reporting, no arrests had been made in that series either.
Jewelry Stores Also Targeted Citywide
Separately, Chicago police have said they are investigating a series of crash-and-grab burglaries at jewelry stores in Albany Park, Rogers Park, West Ridge and Avondale, according to ABC7 Chicago. Police said suspects hit several jewelry stores Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, crashing one vehicle into the stores' front glass windows before stealing property and fleeing in a second vehicle. Among the locations listed by police: the 4800 block of North Kedzie in Albany Park early Friday, the 6900 block of North Clark in Rogers Park on October 20, the 3000 block of North Milwaukee in Avondale on October 22, and the 2600 block of West Devon in West Ridge the same morning.
The Numbers Behind the Trend
The spate of break-ins tracks with a broader citywide surge. Chicago's nonresidential burglary rate was 132% higher in the first half of 2026 than during the same period in 2025, according to the Council on Criminal Justice, which examined offenses recorded in Chicago and 35 other American cities from 2018 through June 2026. The same report found the rate was 434% higher than in the first half of 2019, pushing nonresidential burglary to 181.1 incidents per 100,000 residents — the highest level the council found among the years it studied.
The burglary spike comes even as other categories of violent crime moved in the opposite direction last year. Homicides in Chicago fell 29% in 2025 after a 5.1% decline in 2024, and the city recorded fewer homicides than in any year since 1965, according to NORC at the University of Chicago. Robbery and aggravated assault also declined last year, with the steepest drops recorded in 2025, the same report found. The City of Chicago has said the post-pandemic surge in robberies ended in 2025, with incidents falling nearly 50% from their prior peak.
For now, the Logan Square case remains open, with no arrests announced and no word from police on who was behind the wheel of the SUV or who ran into the bar before fleeing with nothing.
