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Police Warn Of Taxi Drivers Robbed At Gunpoint & Knifepoint Around Chicago

By Rachel Cromidas in News on Apr 17, 2017 8:34PM

2017_damenwebster.jpg
2000 block of West Webster Avenue via Google street view.

Police are warning of a spate of armed robberies of taxi drivers around the city last weekend.

In at least four incidents around the city's North Side, taxi drivers picked up a man for a fare, and once at the destination, the man put the drivers in a headlock and demanded money while threatening the drivers with a weapon—a handgun in at least two cases, and a large knife in another. In each case, the man took money and cell phones from the cab drivers before fleeing.

The armed robberies were reported in the 2000 block of West Webster Avenue in Bucktown on April 14 at 1:25 a.m., in the 3500 block of West Melrose Street in Avondale on April 14 at 3:00 a.m. and 3:20 a.m., and in the 3700 block of North Clark Street in Lakeview on April 15 at 1:20 a.m.

The robber was described to police a a Hispanic man, 5'07 to 5'09 tall, 150 to 160 pounds,
"clean shaven, wearing a black baseball cap, black hooded sweatshirt, and blue jeans."