Chicago Area Local News

CHICAGO (CBS) ― There are expressions of fear on the streets of the Lincoln Park neighborhood, now that at least five men have been savagely beaten as they walked alone down the normally quiet streets.  

As CBS 2's Susan Carlson reports, the latest attack happened late Monday night, in at least the fifth similar incident. Around 10:55 p.m., a man was beaten and robbed by three other men while walking a bicycle to his car at Fullerton and Cannon drives, near the Peggy Notebaert Nature Museum.

 MAP: Lincoln Park Attacks

CBS 2's Mai Martinez talked to the victim of the latest attack. He asked to remain anonymous because he's afraid the men who robbed him will try to track him down. He asked us just to call him 'John'.

"As I'm walking a gentleman jumps out from behind a tree, literally right in front of me just a few yards in front, and he's like 'brake yourself' you know what time this is,'" John said.

He says he was walking his bike through Lincoln Park last night, when he was confronted by 3 men, one of them wielding a stick.

"He was holding it like he was waving it at me, and it looked like they were more so counting on their intimidation and their presence to vy for my valuables than anything and that's all it took," he said.

John says he threw the $137 he had on the ground hoping the assailants would take it and run.

"After I threw them my cash and saw them coming toward me, I snaked my lock off my handle bars, let my bike fall, and I stepped back and I started swinging. I was like 'look, you got what you want, come on let me go, we don't have to do this," he said.

John believes the bicycle lock saved his life. The suspects ran off without harming him, but Chicago police say 5 other victims were not as fortunate.

Police say in all of the cases, a group of three or four men has been targeting one man walking alone, either late at night or early in the morning. In all of the cases, the victims were beaten and robbed.

Police believe the same offenders are responsible for at least four of the five Lincoln Park attacks, and possibly a sixth early Monday on the Boystown strip of North Halsted Street about a mile and a half north of the other crime scenes.

Typically, the Lincoln Park neighborhood is a place where residents don't worry about their safety when walking down the street, even late at night.

CBS 2's Mike Parker reports that the rash of violent muggings has become, in cop parlance "a heater case" with police feeling heat to solve it.

TV sports producer William Kelly, says he was the victim of a similar attack last month. It happened he says at McClurg court and Illinois street, near his lakefront apartment.

"It's the exact same scenario, 11 o'clock at night. Two guys come up behind me and sure enough one of them comes up and hits me on the side of the face. The other guy hits me again, knocks me down, starts stomping on me... the whole time they're asking me for my phone," said Kelly.

The two men, Kelly says, finally ran off without getting anything.

What are Chicago Police doing to solve these crimes? One veteran high ranking officer who declines to be identified says, "We have a lot of covert resources working this case."

Another law enforcement source points to the use of decoys, undercover officers posing as potential victims. And, detectives are tracking down and questioning ex-offenders with a history of committing similar crimes.

Monday night, a contingent of Guardian Angels from New York City took up a watch near the nature museum.

They say they're here as a deterrent despite what some local police might think about them.

"You would think they would welcome us, some officers will. Some still take you as a threat, and an indictment against their ability to be able to do their job, and that's never the case for the Guardian Angels," said Tom Hunt, a Guardian Angel.

Police are not sure if the Lincoln Park crimes are linked to another attack Monday morning on Halsted Street near Buckingham Place in the Boystown neighborhood. In that incident, four offenders beat up a 24-year-old victim and stole his cell phone.

"I've seen a lot of squad cars out here. It's just a matter of time before either the police get their hands on them and they'll be lucky, or someone else will get their hands on them. They'll pick the wrong person," said Lincoln Park resident Jim Cogley.

John fears if the suspects aren't caught soon, the violence could escalate.

"They could get worse, it looked like the second black gentleman, the one who didn't have a stick, looked like he was reaching behind him for a gun or something. I never saw a gun, but they might kick it up a notch. They might start getting pistols, and they might shoot first and snatch later," he said.

We often hear police tell women not to walk alone at night, but in the wake of the attacks, that advice is now stretching to men as well. As of midday Tuesday, there was no one in custody, and police had yet to receive a good description of the robbers.

Anyone with information on the robberies is asked to call 911, or Belmont Area detectives at (312) 744-8263. 

CBS 2's Mike Parker, Susan Carlson, Mai Martinez and the STNG Wire contributed to this report.

(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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