An ATM was torn out of a gas station on North Broadway in Uptown early Tuesday after a blue Jeep plowed into the building, part of yet another overnight crash-and-grab burglary on Chicago's North Side. The break-in happened at about 3:03 a.m. in the 5100 block of North Broadway, according to Chicago police.
Three suspects arrived in a separate vehicle and entered the gas station after the Jeep crashed through, removing the cash machine and loading it into a black SUV before four suspects fled the scene, according to ABC7 Chicago. Police reported no injuries, and Area Three detectives are now investigating the burglary.
The gas station sits within the Chicago Police Department's 20th District, headquartered at 5400 N. Lincoln Avenue and responsible for patrolling North Side communities including Uptown, Andersonville, and Edgewater, per the Chicago Police Department. The district patrols North Side communities including Uptown, Andersonville, and Edgewater.
A Familiar Playbook Across Chicago
The Uptown burglary follows a two-vehicle tactic that Chicago police alerts have repeatedly flagged in overnight commercial break-ins: a crew rams a stolen vehicle, often a Jeep, into a storefront to create an opening, then loads the dislodged ATM into a second getaway vehicle. The ramming vehicle is frequently abandoned at the scene while the crew escapes in the second car, a pattern described in reporting on a similar incident at a Western Avenue vape shop.
That pattern has repeated itself across the city in recent weeks. In another incident, a group crashed a dark-colored Jeep into a BP gas station at 7059 S. Ashland Avenue in West Englewood and stole an ATM before escaping in a second vehicle, as reported by Fox 32 Chicago. Days earlier, on October 8, burglars rammed a Jeep Grand Cherokee through the entrance of 10 Doors, a bar in Little Italy, stealing its ATM before fleeing in another car — a case Hoodline covered in our earlier report.
Four suspects rammed a blue Jeep into a BP Amoco station in the 3200 block of West Addison Street in Avondale, leaving a gaping hole in the building to steal its ATM before fleeing in a getaway car. An attempted SUV ramming at Soap Box Laundry was reported on September 1. During a single overnight spree on September 1, at least 17 North Side businesses were targeted in commercial break-ins within just one hour, between 1:42 a.m. and 2:37 a.m., according to WLS-TV.
Commercial Burglaries Remain a Concern
Commercial nonresidential burglaries remain elevated citywide. Data from the Council on Criminal Justice showed Chicago's nonresidential burglary rate reached 181.1 incidents per 100,000 residents in the first half of 2026, the highest level in recent years among 35 major U.S. cities analyzed.
Some businesses have faced damage and costs after crash-and-grab burglaries. Commercial cash machines are typically bolted to concrete floors, meaning crews need heavy force or vehicle power to tear them loose.
Under Illinois law, commercial burglary involving property damage is classified as a Class 2 felony, carrying a potential penalty of three to seven years in state prison and fines of up to $25,000, according to FindLaw.
It remains unclear whether Area Three detectives have linked the vehicle used in the Broadway burglary to earlier thefts or related North Side sprees, or what additional security measures nearby gas stations might consider in response. For now, the Uptown break-in adds another entry to a growing list of similar crashes, including recent hits in Lincoln Park and Rogers Park, where a Jeep backed into a restaurant in an attempted ATM burglary.
