CHANNAHON, IL — The criminal element has returned to Channahon for yet another smash and grab crime targeting a business that contains video slot machines regulated by the state of Illinois. The latest crime wave happened in the middle of the night this week at the 24-hour-open Thorntons gas station right off the Interstate 55 exit at Route 6. Nobody was injured or killed during this latest crime of violence.
According to Joliet's WJOL news radio station, AM-1340, which broke the news, the incident happened at 4:14 a.m. on Tuesday, November 10.
The news radio station reported that two white vehicles backed up to the main door and several people entered wearing masks and carrying tools. WJOL reported that video from the Channahon Thorntons showed the six people using sledgehammers and pry bars to forcefully remove the cash boxes from six different gaming machines and tobacco products were also taken from behind the cash register.
The radio station reported that all six were described as black males in their late teens to early 20s, wearing all black or grey clothing with balaclava-style face coverings.
Separately, Mokena Patch reported that a Mokena gas station was hit in a smash-and-grab to gaming machines early Tuesday, with one suspect threatening the store clerk with a sledgehammer, the police said.
At approximately 4:50 a.m. Tuesday, police said two white vehicles backed up to the front door of the Gas N Wash, 19990 LaGrange Road, where multiple masked suspects emerged from each vehicle and entered the store with sledgehammers and crowbars, police said.
One suspect jumped the counter and threatened the clerk with the hammer, ordering them to open the cash register drawers.
Simultaneously, several other suspects began smashing the gaming terminals, targeting the cash boxes, police said. One patron told police they spotted a handgun in one suspect's waistband.
Suspect vehicles fled northbound on LaGrange and continued onto I-80 East, police said.
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