Wednesday, May 6, 2009

Helicopter Overhead In Uptown This Afternoon

We have gotten quite a few emails from residents wondering why a police helicopter was circling overhead this afternoon and why there was heavy police presence near Sunnyside Mall. Here is what we know: a male robbed a dry cleaners at knifepoint in the 3000 block of north Clark. He then fled up Clark to Sunnyside and was apparently armed and dangerous somewhere near Sunnyside Mall. Hopefully someone can update our readers or give clarification in the comments.

12 comments:

  1. I saw a ton of squad cars at the intersection of Sunnyside and Clark around 12:30, and then saw a policewoman with a leashed German Shepherd walking west on Montrose from Clark. The squads cars I could see were all from the 19th District.

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  2. Almost all of the cars in 19 and 23 were in the four block area of Clark and Wilson for a period of time.

    An armed robbery occured at Just Sew Tailors at the 3900 block of Clark St. He held the woman up at the store with a knife. The perp was a black male about 5'10 light complected with faded blue jeans and a red t-shirt.

    After the call came in to the police they started touring the area when a person at the corner of Clark and Wilson flagged down an officer and mentioned to him a man just ran North on Clark St like he had just robbed someone. These people confirmed that it was a black male with a red t-shirt on that they saw. Near Sunnyside and Clark.

    A store to store search was started from Montrose to Leland on Clark with Police working in opposite directions towards the middle.

    The person they were looking for ducked out of one of the stores durring this search and headed east on Sunnyside with Police in chase.because of traffic CTA busses and construction that was going on at the corner of Beacon and Wilson as well as the aleys being clogged with construction equipment the Police lost the suspect on Sunnyside between Beacon and Clark.

    The Helicopter was requested to help in the search and arrived within minutes of the request.

    He was never caught but they certainly tried everything in their power to nab him.

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  3. That's horrible. I hope noone was hurt. I use that dry cleaner from time to time. Owner is an incredibly friendly guy and understands the phrase, 'Customer Service'. I've only had a few problems with work done there, and each time the owner went way out his way to make it right.

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  4. PB - Thanks so much for the information. I work from home and watched this through my window and couldn't figure out what was going on.

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  5. That's interesting; that helicopter actually belongs to a local flight school/helicopter company & is not a police helo. I have actually flown that very one. Sure it is not for some movie? They have painted that helo for many a film & TV shows, including the last Batman movie. That paint scheme - the police dept writing, is definitely not CPD & the man in the back seat looks like he has a camera. The location of the base of that helo is not close, so to arrive "within minutes" is perhaps wishful thinking.

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  6. TOC- That is just a police helicopter photo we found online. It is not the actual copter seen today. Good eye though!

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  7. OH!! Ahaha... never mind then...

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  8. Helicoptors... sirens...gunshots... crazy crack hookers... and it's only early May.

    It's going to be a cruel summer.

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  9. The Helicopter that was circling overhead was on the CPD frequencies talking to units on the ground. He Identified himself as CPD Helo-1

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  10. Amazing what attention crime in neighboring wards receives, huh? This will probably make the Trib, too. If it does, I'll bet money that the word "Uptown" doesn't get used when describing where the perpetrator lives. The phrase "somewhere on the North side" or "north of Lakeview" comes to mind.

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  11. You've got that right Zesty....it will be a crime "in North Wrigley..."

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  12. Umm, I'm sorry, but the guy GOT AWAY? With all that police activity? Why is it so easy to evade the CPD?

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