A man robbed the Diamond Smoke and Vape Store, 7418 Madison St., shortly after midnight, Aug. 2, leaving plenty of fingerprints behind in the process.
Surveillance footage showed a man pulling up to the store in a silver 2015 Toyota Sedan, getting out of the car and throwing a brick through a glass door to get in. The suspect jumped over the store counter and ransacked the area near the cash register. The man picked up tobacco products and shoved them into a backpack, took a coin jar from the counter and left. He came back about three minutes later, took the digital safe beneath the cash register and went back to his car.
By that point, a neighbor had called police about the burglary. The police patrol unit pulled in just as the suspect returned to his car. He immediately took off, driving east on Madison Street. Forest Park and Oak Park police gave chase, but they lost sight of him.
The suspect wasn’t wearing a mask or gloves, and he left multiple finger prints on the counter. The Forest Park police were still awaiting fingerprint results.
Carjacking
A woman was carjacked at gunpoint on Aug. 3 at 10:43 p.m. after she parked her white 2018 Range Rover in the 200 block of Circle Avenue.
The victim said that, as she got out of the car, a black 2015 Honda Civic Sedan pulled up to her. Three teens reportedly got out of the car, put guns to her head and demanded that she give them everything. She gave her car keys, her phone and her purse, which had her Social Security card, credit cards and about $1,250 in cash. One of the teens got into her vehicle and drove off, while the rest got back in the black sedan. A video camera caught them driving south past Madison Street shortly thereafter.
Later that evening, River Forest police officers observed a black Mercedes and the black Honda used in the carjacking, traveling east on Chicago Avenue from Harlem Avenue. The officer was able to check the Honda’s license plate and discovered it was stolen in a carjacking in Chicago a few hours earlier. While they didn’t get the Mercedes’ license plate, a similar-looking Mercedes was carjacked from the Chicago side of the North and Harlem intersection about an hour before the Forest Park carjacking.
The black Honda was subsequently found abandoned, and was towed to the Forest Park police station for processing.
Walmart shoplifting attempts
Forest Park Walmart, 1300 Desplaines Ave., saw multiple shoplifting attempts last week:
On Aug. 5 at 9:29 a.m., a 32-year-old Cicero man tried to get a refund for the 32-inch TV he had grabbed from a shelf. When he didn’t get the refund, he tried to leave with the TV, but was stopped by loss prevention.
On Aug. 6 at 2:07 p.m., a 35-year-old Brookfield man and a 28-year-old Arlington Heights woman were detained after the woman was caught on surveillance video trying to hide items in her stroller. They were detained while still shopping in the store. A record check revealed the man had an arrest warrant for retail theft in Willowbrook.
On Aug. 7 at 6 p.m., a 48-year-old Berwyn man was caught on surveillance video trying to conceal multiple items in a Walmart shopping bag. The police officers intercepted him as he existed the store.
The Brookfield man was turned over to Willowbrook police for processing. The rest were issued local ordinance citations.
These items were obtained from police reports filed by the Forest Park Police Department, Aug. 1-7, and represent a portion of the incidents to which police responded. Unless otherwise indicated, anybody named in these reports has only been charged with a crime. These cases have not been adjudicated.
Compiled by Igor Studenkov
