Four unidentified black males believed to be in their early 20’s held a grocery store clerk at gunpoint before making off with an undisclosed sum of cash.

At approximately 2:30 p.m. on Aug. 28, the four suspects allegedly entered the Sav-Er Groceries store at 7404 Madison St. when one of the suspects pointed a gun directly at a store clerk, according to police reports. After initially walking to the beverage cooler, one of the men stepped forward and pointed a “large silver barrel handgun” in the direction of two clerks, according to the report.

The suspect ordered both store employees to get down on the floor before jumping over the counter and snatching money from the register, police records indicate.

“The offender pointed the gun directly at the head of the victim,” according to the report.

When the suspects fled the scene, witnesses reported they were unsure of the number of get-away vehicles used. The man believed to have pointed the gun was last seen in a white, two-door Buick. A second vehicle may have been used in the heist, according to police, and it is described as a red Ford Taurus wagon.

The group allegedly left the store and headed south along Hannah Avenue.

Victim hospitalized after assault

A 49-year-old black man was hospitalized with injuries to his head and face after police found him lying on a sidewalk, badly beaten.

At 10:20 p.m. on Aug. 25, police received a call of a battery in progress outside of 238 Desplaines Ave. Two female witnesses to the alleged crime offered conflicting reports of the incident, according to police records.

According to a woman who saw the incident from 228 Desplaines Ave., a white two-door vehicle stopped suddenly near the victim and four black males jumped out. They pummeled the man, who was walking southbound along the sidewalk, then got back into the vehicle and headed north, according to police.

A second woman, who told police she witnessed the incident from 300 Desplaines Ave., said she saw three black males strike the victim with their fists. According to police records, the woman said the suspects left the scene on foot.

Cab driver found dead in car

The final moments of a Chicago man’s life may have been recorded by a security camera before he was found dead in the parking lot of the Blue Cab taxi company.

Randall Charlton, 57, 6600 block of S. Greenwood Avenue, tripped a motion activated camera system when he pulled cab number 427 into the Blue Cab lot just before midnight on Aug. 30. According to police reports, Charlton was not active enough to keep the cameras running, but when another cab alerted the same video surveillance system again at 2 a.m., Charlton’s lifeless body can be seen in the passenger seat of cab number 427.

Both of Charlton’s feet were outside of the vehicle and on the ground when police were called to the scene after 9 a.m. Aug. 31. An empty plastic bag with “eight balls printed on the side” was found near the victim, according to reports.

Investigators also recovered two prescription drug bottles from Charlton’s body, one for methadone and one for acetaminophen.

Suspect invites police search

After police woke her from an apparently drug induced sleep, a Bensenville, Ill., woman invited the officer to search her belongings for paraphernalia.

Kim M. Flores, 36, was found sleeping in her Chrysler convertible parked in a gas station parking lot at 205 Harlem Ave., according to police. The driver’s side door to the car was open and after finally waking Flores on a third attempt, the officer asked if the woman had used drugs or alcohol recently. Flores allegedly encouraged the officer to “check my purse” where a small quantity of methamphetamines was discovered.

“Those are crystal shavings to decorate candles with,” Flores allegedly told the officer.

Two objects identified as crack pipes were also found in the car, according to the report.

Flores later admitted to having purchased crack cocaine the night before, and was given the methamphetamine by a friend, police reports stated.

Lewd remarks interrupt commute

Knowing she would likely see several officers at the restaurant where she worked, a Circle Avenue resident waited to report an episode of sexual harassment until after she arrived at work.

According to police reports, the woman was walking to work around 5:30 a.m. on Aug. 31 when a vehicle cut in front of her, blocking her path. An unidentified man asked if she spoke Spanish, to which she replied in the affirmative, according to the report. The man then asked “where he could put his penis while holding said penis in his hand,” according to written police statements.

Her threats to call the police prompted the man to flee, and she continued on her commute, according to public records. Police did not receive the complaint until after 4:30 p.m. that day.

These items were taken from the records of the Forest Park Police Department between August 28 and September 1, 2006, and represent only a portion of the incidents to which police responded. Anyone named in this report has only been charged with a crime. The cases have not been adjudicated.

Compiled by Josh Adams