FedEx driver robbed at gunpoint in Chatham; neighborhood fights back

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Chicago police are tracking a pattern of robbers targeting FedEx and UPS drivers. Three robberies have occurred in the past nine days. In some cases, they are being held at gunpoint.

A FedEx driver was held up by an armed robber just before noon Thursday in the city's Chatham neighborhood. Police said the suspect took the drivers cell phone and wallet while he was making deliveries in the 700-block of East 80th Street. He was not hurt.

People have been handing out fliers in the neighborhood to encourage residents to help police. Neighbors said they will not tolerate these crimes.

"You cannot have my block. You will not have my block. I am serious. You're not going to have it. We want door-to-door delivery. We want the FedEx, UPS drivers to feel free to come and drop your packages so you don't have to go pick them up as an alternative. That's not the way communities are meant to survive," one resident said.

Last Wednesday, a UPS driver and a FedEx driver were targeted by robbers in two separate incidents on the South Side.

Police said the UPS driver was approached by two men just before 9 p.m. as he was making a delivery at East 85th Street and South Prairie Avenue in Chatham.

Witnesses said one of the men put a gun to the driver's head, while the other stole packages from the truck. The driver was not hurt.

That same day, someone tried to rob a Fed Ex driver as he delivered packages. He took the driver's truck and ultimately abandoned it near East 73rd Street and South Cottage Grove Avenue in the city's Park Manor neighborhood.

Area South detectives are looking at surveillance video from the neighborhood in an attempt to identify the suspect in the most recent robbery. No one is in custody.