Four small businesses on West Belmont Avenue near North Clark Street were burglarized shortly after 4 a.m. Saturday, police sources said. Tso Good, Mixteco, Salt Burgers and Fries, and Helin Café were hit within minutes; suspects broke glass, took cash drawers, and left before police could catch up.
Surveillance footage reviewed after the break-ins showed what appeared to be two masked male suspects, according to WGN-TV. The station reported that the footage captured the spree in less than two minutes. At Helin Café, one suspect appeared to use a crowbar on two glass doors, including one that was already unlocked.
Helin Café had been open for just three weeks. Owner Haluk Akpinar, who lives in the neighborhood, described the break-in as heartbreaking and said the damage was a serious setback for the new business. The cash drawer held very little, but Akpinar estimated to the station that repairs would cost about what the café earns in a week.
The Damage Outlasted the Break-ins
At Mixteco Mexican Grill, the owner said the thieves took two cash drawers, returning for a second after leaving with the first. The break-in also damaged the point-of-sale system. The suspects later fled in a black sedan.
About a minute after the Helin Café break-in, the suspects struck Tso Good in the 800 block of West Belmont Avenue, co-owner Derek Intapura said. A suspect smashed the front window with a tool, damaged the point-of-sale system, and took the cash drawer. The station reported that the damage outweighed the amount of cash stolen. Business owners along the strip said they appreciated community support and hoped those responsible would be caught and held accountable.
No Arrests Yet, Wider Pattern Under Watch
No one was in custody in connection with the Lakeview break-ins as of the report, and detectives were still investigating. Police sources told the station that Uptown and Edgewater saw at least six other overnight business burglaries the same night, spread across the 1000 block of West Wilson Avenue, the 1100 block of West Bryn Mawr Avenue, and the 5400, 5700, and 6000 blocks of North Broadway Street. Whether those break-ins are connected to the Lakeview spree remains unclear.
The overnight hits are part of a broader run of smash-and-grab burglaries that has rattled Chicago's North Side in recent weeks. Just the weekend before, a 17-year-old boy was taken into custody in connection with 14 break-ins in the 2400 and 2500 blocks of North Clark Avenue, sources told WGN-TV. Separately, ABC7 Chicago reported that burglars targeted at least five North Side businesses in Edgewater and Lakeview, including Lickity Split on North Broadway, with at least three more Lakeview businesses broken into just minutes later; police said it was unclear whether those burglaries were connected either.
Burglary Numbers Tell a Mixed Story
Citywide, burglaries are up 15% over the past 12 months compared with the average of the prior three years, according to ABC7's Neighborhood Safety Tracker. The same tracker showed Lakeview break-ins climbing from fewer than 200 in 2021 to nearly 300 in 2024, with another increase the following year. ABC7 separately reported two business break-ins in Lakeview's 3300 and 3400 blocks of North Southport Avenue, one around midnight and another around 2:29 a.m.
Not every data point points the same direction, though. Block Club Chicago reported that police data show reported burglaries in the 19th Police District down 43% year to date, with 245 complaints through the week ending Oct. 25 compared with 429 over the same stretch the year before — a figure that covers all reported burglaries, not just commercial break-ins, and does not include a separate Clark Street spree. That Clark Street incident, which Block Club Chicago covered on Oct. 27, damaged at least 13 Lincoln Park businesses, with workers estimating as many as 19 were targeted; police said the group smashed doors and windows, took cash registers from several storefronts, and fled in a vehicle. A similar pattern played out in Old Town, where FOX 32 Chicago reported more than 10 businesses along Wells Street were burglarized or vandalized in a single early-morning spree.
What Incident Records and Other Cases Show
A Chicago Police Department business alert listed a commercial burglary in Lakeview’s 2900 block of N. Sheffield at 2:03 a.m. on Jan. 19, 2025. That alert documents an individual commercial incident, not a five-year count; it does not show how commercial burglaries compare with other reported burglaries across Lakeview or the 19th District. In a separate series, WGN-TV reported that police described seven business burglaries in Edgewater, Uptown and West Ridge from Dec. 14, 2025, to Jan. 9, 2026, involving forced or smashed doors and stolen cash or cash registers. Block Club Chicago reported a separate spree around 4 a.m. Tuesday in Lincoln Park’s 2400- and 2500-blocks of North Clark Street, where police said a group smashed business glass and took cash registers from several storefronts. These reports document other incidents but do not establish whether they were connected to the Lakeview break-ins.
For now, detectives are still piecing together whether any of these North Side sprees are linked, while Lakeview's small-business owners are left patching broken glass and waiting for answers.
