A man who had just robbed a Lincoln Park bank made a clean getaway in a taxi on the morning of Dec. 20. Employees at the North Community Bank, 2335 N. Clark St., told police that at around 11:55 a.m. that day a man entered the bank and told one of one the tellers to give him money, supplementing the demand by sliding over a handwritten note which read “Now,” according to the teller.

The man, who was believed to be in his 20s, sported a shaved a head and was wearing a red and black striped and hooded sweatshirt at the time of the incident. He told the teller to give $100 and $50 notes, and the teller gave the offender $400 in cash, at which point he fled the store with the note and cash in hand.

A bank employee who had witnessed the incident then followed the man out of the store, at which point she observed the offender enter a yellow taxi parked just south of the bank and depart in a southbound direction. The witness said was she not sure if the man had gotten into the driver’s seat or the back passenger seat.

According to the report for the incident, about half an hour later police received a call from employees at bank on the 300 block of West Armitage Avenue stating that a suspicious man had entered the building. Police were unable to locate the man, and it was unclear whether the two incidents were related.

Two men told police that they were robbed by a woman who was giving them a shoe shine around 4:15 p.m. of Dec. 21. The men, one of whom is a resident of Grayslake, said that they were on the 600 block of North Clark Street when the woman, who had just finished shining their shoes, produced a can of pepper spray and demanded their money.

The men handed over a total of $24 in cash to the offender, who had previously stated that her name was Michelle Winborg, according to the victims, and wore an ID card which implied that she was an employee of Nike. The offender was also wearing a puffy brown jacket during the incident. Police toured the area but were unable to locate the offender.

A 37-year-old man was walking on the 1200 block of North Dearborn Street at 2:30 a.m. on Dec. 26 when three unknown men attacked him. The men, two of whom were believed to be in their late 20s, struck the victim on the head and knocked him to the ground, at which point one of the offenders took the man’s wedding band from his hand. The offenders then fled in an unknown direction.

Police arrested a woman who was carrying a gun near a school in Old Town on the morning of Dec. 22. At around 10:15 a.m. that morning, police apprehended the woman on the 1400 block of North Sedgwick Street, near the George Manierre Elementary School at 1420 N. Hudson Ave.

The offender had apparently voiced plans to shoot her husband, and a 911 caller had alerted police that she was standing outside holding a gun and looking for her alleged husband. Officers were not sure if the woman was inside of the school, but it was later revealed that she never made it into the building. An officer recovered a gun from the scene.


According to a police news release, at 8:00 a.m. on Dec. 18 Dec., a man was arrested on the 1200 block of North Astor Street for allegedly stealing a taxi. Three officers suffered minor injuries while attempting to arrest the offender, and the offender was charged with possession of a stolen motor vehicle, a variety of moving violations, and damage to public property. The man was scheduled to appear in court on Dec. 27 at Branch 42, 2452 W. Belmont Ave.