On Monday, January 13, at 5:30 p.m. a robbery occurred on the 5600 block of South Harper Avenue. A female victim was walking on the street when a woman asked how she was. The offender then reached out and grabbed the victim’s bag. There was a brief struggle between the two women but the offender eventually gained control of the victim’s bag before running to a nearby vehicle. The offender is described as a 30-year-old black female with a medium complexion, approximately five-foot-two, weighing 185 pounds, with short, curly black hair, wearing blue overalls with a yellow metal chain around her neck. The car she fled to is described as a four-door, dark blue, possible Dodge.

The offender struck again minutes later, at 5:37 p.m., on the 1400 block of 59th Street. A woman was walking eastbound when approached from behind by the offender, who reached out to grab her purse. As in the first instance, a struggle occurred between the two women. In this case, the victim was able to fight off the offender, keeping control of her purse. The offender then fled to the dark blue car, which was last seen driving westbound on the Midway.

Also on January 13, a strong-arm robbery occurred at 7 p.m. on the 5300 block of South Harper Avenue. A male victim was walking alone when approached from behind by two male offenders. The first offender demanded the victim’s wallet. When the victim refused, the offender struck him repeatedly until the victim fell to the ground. At that point, the offender reached into the victim’s pocket and took out his wallet. The two offenders then ran southbound on Harper. Both offenders were described as black males approximately 14 years of age, five-foot-five, 120 pounds, wearing black skull caps, dark puffy down coats, and blue jeans.

On January 19 there was an attempted robbery at approximately 10:10 p.m. A man walking alone on the 5800 block of South Kimbark Avenue had a car pull up beside him. A passenger stepped out of the car and demanded the man’s money. The man responded that he only had a few dollars on him at which point the offender got back in the car and drove away. Later that evening, the police stopped a car fitting the description given by the man. There was a warrant for one of the passengers on a previous narcotics charge. The police took him into custody. The case is currently under investigation, as police suspect that the passenger is responsible for other robberies in the community.