Screwdriver-Wielding Woman Accused In Armed Robbery Attempt: Cops

NORTHBROOK, IL — A downstate woman wielding a screwdriver-type object admitted trying to rob a woman with her infant child in a Northbrook parking lot Wednesday, authorities said.

Alice Lutz, 29, of Danville, was arrested shortly after 6:30 p.m. in the Village Square parking lot in the 100 block of Skokie Boulevard by Northbrook officers who arrived within a few minutes of a call about an armed robbery in progress, according to police and prosecutors.

Lutz had approached the woman and her baby with the sharp object in her right hand and demanded her purse before a passerby called 911, according to prosecutors.

When officers arrived, Lutz had fled to back to her car, where she first denied trying to rob the women before investigators found a pointed metal object in her car and took her into custody, police said.

No one was injured in the incident, police said. Prosecutors approved a charge of attempted armed robbery, a class 1 felony, before she was released on a $20,000 recognizance bond ahead of her next court appearance Oct. 2 in Skokie, according to court records.