Armed robberies on N. Side leave residents on edge

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Police say three people have been threatened by armed robbers on Chicago's North Side in the last week, most recently on Saturday morning.

Three people were robbed at gunpoint within 30 minutes of each other in the Lincoln Park and Lakeview neighborhoods Saturday morning and police are trying to determine if the incidents are connected.

According to investigators, one of the robberies took place just after 6 a.m. at Southport and Henderson. The male victim took a blow to the face and was then robbed by three armed men, who were last seen running down a nearby alley.

"It's bizarre, I feel like it's really uncommon for this area," said Lakeview resident Laurie Kalbfleisch. "We walk this way to work all the time and never would have expected something like that."

A mile and a half away, at 6:35 a.m., two men were walking down the street near Halsted and Wrightwood when they were approached and robbed by two others with a gun. The intersection is a heavily trafficked one, and would have been so even on a Saturday morning, and that's exactly what unnerving to residents here, who in recent months have seen an uptick in armed robberies, but usually during the overnight hours.

"That's even more scary, that it's happening, not late at night, we're not out at 2 a.m. with him," Lincoln Park resident Kristin Galbraith.

"That's why we moved to this neighborhood, was to be safe and be able to walk with our kid and go to the park," Ian Galbraith said.

Though those robberies took place six days ago, police are including a third armed robbery in their alert, taking place at another busy intersection near Southport and Irving Park Road in the middle of the afternoon.

"It's scary," Lakeview resident Lindsay Gonka said. "You make sure you do the correct things, putting your cell phone out when you're walking, take your headphones out of your ears, just do smart things. Unfortunately it still happens."

No arrests have been made in any of the robberies. In all three, the offenders are being described only vaguely, leading investigators asking residents to be on alert and report anything that looks suspicious in their neighborhoods.