2 Robberies Reported Monday Night In Evanston

EVANSTON, IL — Police are investigating two robberies, one abortive, reported Monday night into early Tuesday morning in Evanston. No one is in custody in connection with either incident, and police are seeking the public's help solving the crimes.

In the first incident, a 33-year-old Evanston man was walking down the sidewalk in the 400 block of Keeney Street around 10:53 p.m. when he was accosted by three young men, police said. The man told police one of the three pulled out a knife and demanded he hand over his belongings. The man complied, and handed over a black backpack with his wallet, laptop computer, cell phone and house keys inside.

After taking the backpack, the three suspects told the man to walk away westbound on Kenney before they fleed the area in an unknown direction, police said. The trio of suspects were all described as 5-foot, 11-inch, 17 to 20-year-old black men. They were all wearing dark clothing and bandannas partially covering their faces, according to Evanston Police Cmdr. Joseph Dugan.

The second incident took place less than two hours later, around 12:10 a.m. on Tuesday. Police said a pizza delivery driver was dropping off a pizza at an address in the 1800 block of Grey Avenue when a man walked up to the 58-year-old Chicago resident and demanded the pizza and his money.

As the robber began to pull out an apparent handgun, a plastic piece broke off of it, according to police. At this point, the delivery driver told police he realized the handgun was a replica. With his fake gun broken, the suspect ran away, fleeing southbound in the east alley of Grey Avenue without taking anything. The plastic piece that broke off was recovered by responding officers. The suspect was described as a 6-foot, 200 lb. black man in his early 20's wearing a white sweater and blue jeans.

Police asked anyone with information to contact investigators by calling 847-866-5000 and asking for the detective division or texting a tip to CRIMES (274637) and entering EPDTIP plus the tip information in the message.