Surveillance video shows armed robbery of Portage Park family grocery

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Surveillance video shows the armed robbery of a family grocery store in Portage Park, one of two businesses hit on the Northwest Side.

On the video three men in hoodies enter with guns drawn before stealing hundreds of dollars in cash, along with the clerk's sense of peace.

"He doesn't look good. He's still in shock. He doesn't want to talk about it," said the store owner, who asked ABC 7 Eyewitness News to hide his identity.

The owner's son was behind the counter when the robbers burst in Sunday evening. Surveillance cameras were rolling as he was forced at gunpoint to open the register while the other suspects acted as lookouts, making sure the store was empty.

One of the robber barked orders and, at one point, looked up giving the camera a glimpse of his face.

"They were screaming and yelling and saying bad words. They just tried to intimidate, intimidate him," the owner said.

After taking the money, the clerk was ordered onto the floor and the thieves made their getaway. The whole ordeal took less than four minutes.

But police said the following night the same group robbed an AT&T store in Jefferson Park at gunpoint as well.

In the grocery store robbery, a customer is seen walking in less than a minute after the heist, barely missing the thieves. In fact, you can see him pointing in the direction where they fled.

The owner is now warning other business owners in the area.

"I believe we need a little more police officers in the rea. I'm very disappointed because these things have been happening often in this neighborhood," he said.

The three offenders for the most part had their faces covered, but the store owner said they appeared to be in their 20s, one Latino, the other two African-American, and one of the suspects may have been a woman.