While walking on the 800 block of N. State at around 6 p.m. on November 23, two women were approached by a man who accosted them and attempted to take their purses. The 56-year-old South Side resident, pushed one of the women to the ground and began kicking her and taking money from her pockets. The offender also punched and kicked the other woman and grabbed her purse. Both victims were yelling for help when a 27-year-old Moody Bible student came to their aid and restrained the man until police came and took the man into custody.

A 36-year-old man had his phone stolen while eating outside of an establishment on the 0-100 block of W. Chicago. The man told police that at 11:00 a.m. on November 29 the offender approached him and asked if he wanted to buy some marijuana. The victim declined, and the man asked if he could use his phone, to which he also refused. The suspect then grabbed his phone and fled down an alley. The victim gave chase but did not catch the offender, and officers from the area later stated that they recognized the man from pictures taken by the police department’s street camera system.

On the morning of November 29, a man watched his car being stolen on the 400 block of E. Erie After momentarily stepped out to help his daughter, who was on crutches, to cross the street, the victim told police that the offender—a man believed to be in his early thirties—jumped in the car, which was still running, and drove away toward Lake Shore Drive.

At 3:30 a.m. on November 28, a man was walking on the 0-100 block of W. Illinois when two women pulled up next to him in a car and asked for directions to “The Underground.” As the man leaned in to talk to them, one of the women grabbed him by the arm, sprayed mace in his eyes and took $300 and a bank card from his pockets. The victim managed to escape and began running, and he was assisted back to his home by an unknown Good Samaritan.

The owner of an art gallery on the 100 block of W. Kinzie reported that two laptop computers had been stolen from his space. The man told police that the gallery had been broken into sometime during the early morning of November 25. Several doors were kicked in, and the appearance of graffiti on the side of the building may have been linked to the robbery, the man said. Police were unable to check the scene for fingerprints because workers had already been in the building to fix the doors.