CHICAGO – Three youths, ages 12, 13 and 15, are accused of robbing a woman aboard a Red Line train earlier this month after a prominent community leader personally escorted them and their parents to a Chicago police station .
Reverend Corey Brooks, popularly known as the ‘Rooftop Pastor’, announced the move on Twitter Monday evening, less than three hours before the group surrendered at Wentworth (2nd) District station.
“I am asking for the opportunity to help provide guidance and support to these young people,” Brooks said in a message. “They are all minors under the age of 15, so please give me that chance.”
The robbery occurred on a Green Line train on 47th Street around 9:30 PM on September 14. CPD said the group robbed an 18-year-old woman while armed with an unspecified weapon.
The CPD’s Mass Transit Unit released CTA surveillance images of the suspects late Wednesday morning, hoping someone would recognize them. It didn’t take long for the press release to bear fruit, thanks to Brooks’ intervention.
On Tuesday, CPD said a 12-year-old boy, a 13-year-old girl and a 15-year-old boy are each charged with one count of armed robbery.
“I do not excuse the behavior of these children,” Brooks wrote in one follow up post“but many do not realize the deep trauma they have endured, often accompanied by dysfunctional family situations. It is a cycle that fuels many of the challenges we see today.”
No further information is available about the teens or the other two suspects seen in CPD surveillance photos.
Additional arrests
Also Tuesday, CPD said a 14-year-old boy was charged with participating in a robbery on the Red Line last week. Police arrested him Monday at the Red Line station at 95th Street.
Police said he and two accomplices robbed the first victim near Bryn Mawr on Tuesday, September 17 around 10:45 p.m. They forced him off a train at a station north of Uptown as the group continued heading downtown. The victim told police the group repeatedly punched him in the face and took his phone, glasses and AirPod case.
According to CPD, the crew committed two more robberies that night, robbing a 34-year-old man near the Sheridan stop and a 30-year-old man near Clark-Division. Public transport investigators released surveillance images of three suspects a few days ago.
The boy is also accused of robbing a 20-year-old man on the Red Line on August 47 on August 20.
CPD said he has been charged with four counts of theft, four counts of aggravated assault on a transit passenger and two counts of unlawful restraint.
In yet another case, a 16-year-old boy was arrested on the 95th Street platform Monday around 11:52 p.m., less than an hour after robbing an 18-year-old man on the Sox-35th Red Line platform, police said. said. The boy also had an active juvenile arrest warrant.
