A one-man crime spree that began as a sexual assault in the common area of a South Loop apartment building continued with several armed robberies, kidnappings and a stabbing before ending with the suspect dying in a car crash in Bridgeport early Friday.
The suspect, who has not been identified, is a man in his 20s who was ejected from a vehicle when it crashed and flipped over shortly after 3 a.m. in the 3000 block of South Pitney Court, according to Chicago Fire Department spokesman Larry Merritt.
Two women he held captive in the car were injured in the crash and taken to Stroger Hospital, said Merritt. Their injuries were not considered life-threatening.
A resident of the building, who knew one of the victims, said people had packages stolen from the lobby, but in her 17 years living there had never heard anything like it.
“It’s shocking, but not because of the state of our city,” she told reporters outside the building Friday. She said she fears for her teenage children who live with her and has questions about what happened.
“I am so shocked because these are my people,” she said. “I’m sickened. I wanna know, living here with kids, how did he get in? … Everyone wants to know.”
The spree began about 2:45 a.m. when the suspect entered the common area of an apartment building at 1516 S. Wabash Ave., where he approached a 48-year-old woman, pulled a knife on her and sexually assaulted her, Chicago police said.
He then confronted two 27-year-old women and forced all three women into one of the building’s apartments, where he held them at knifepoint and robbed them, police said.
At that point, a 27-year-old man entered the apartment, and the suspect also held him at knifepoint and robbed him.
The 48-year-old woman was able to escape and was taken by ambulance to Rush University Medical Center, where she was in fair condition, according to Merritt and police.
The suspect then forced the three 27-year-olds into one of their cars, police said. They drove to a restaurant in the 700 block of West 31st Street in Bridgeport, and the suspect forced the man out of the car and into a Subway restaurant at 753 W. 31st St., where he cut and robbed a 36-year-old worker, taking cash from the register, according to police.
The man stayed at the restaurant while the suspect got back in the car and drove away with the women still in the car.
After plowing into a police car, he kept driving, then crashed in the 3000 block of South Pitney Court a few minutes later.
“Oh my God, it’s crazy,” said Robert Lam, longtime manager of Styling Studio Image Factory hair salon, at 1518 S. Wabash Ave., of the attacks.
Lam, who has worked and lived in that area for more than 20 years, said police stopped by to see if his store cameras captured anything.
“It’s Chicago. It happens everywhere,” Lam said of crime throughout the city. “It’s not like this area has more.”
Detectives are investigating.
Contributing: Rosemary Sobol
