Gang of 'Organized Burglars' Loot Chicago Stores Ahead of Black Friday

Warner Todd HustonNovember 26, 2021

Early on Friday morning, a group of “organized burglars” conducted flash raids at several Chicago stores hours before shoppers gathered for Black Friday sales.

Between 1:30 a.m. and 3 a.m. a group of men traveling in a 3-car convoy broke into and burglarized four stores in Chicago’s Wicker Park area. A fifth store had its front entrance damaged, but it was not clear if the place was also rifled through, according to a Chicago Police Department report highlighted by crime watch website CWBChicago.com.

The CPD is looking for at least three black men in connection with the string of early morning robberies. Officials also said the men were driving a black Jeep Cherokee, a white Cadillac, and a Ford Fusion.

Items stolen included electronics, jackets, sportswear, and shoes, the stores told police.

Looters and thieves also struck a list of Chicago stores last week in the wake of the Kyle Rittenhouse verdict. At least two incidents of groups of looters flooding stores and running out with arms full of merchandise occurred on Chicago’s South Side, and northward up through the city’s Magnificent Mile shopping district. Neiman Marcus and a Foot Locker outlet were targeted.

During both days, the CPD deployed extra resources among the city’s shopping districts to deter further incursions.

The city was not the only place looters struck last week. On November 17, a band of looters flooded into a Louis Vuitton store in the western Chicago suburb of Oak Brook and carted off up to $100,000 in merchandise, local police said.

The Oak Brook Police Department noted the crime was well planned as the 14-member gang walked into the store from several entrances at once and just as an armed guard went on break. The thieves were already running out of the store with arms full of items when the guard came back and tried to stop them.

A similar incident occurred last month when a Chicago beauty supply store was looted by a group of young black males.

Sent by a follower.

This was at the Ulta in Norridge at 4115 N Harlem near the 16th district in #Chicago pic.twitter.com/Ab59s9N2lA

— 16th & 17th District Chicago Police Scanner (@CPD1617Scanner) September 27, 2021