Sixteen Wilmette businesses were burglarized or targeted in attempted break-ins during a wild 24-minute stretch overnight Wednesday into Thursday, with nine more storefronts smashed along Evanston’s Central Street around the same time. Police say a single vehicle, reportedly stolen hours earlier in Oak Forest, carried the group responsible for the Wilmette hits before its driver refused to stop for officers and bolted onto I-94.
According to the Chicago Tribune, the Wilmette burglaries occurred between 3:45 a.m. and 4:09 a.m. Thursday, with nine businesses hit in the 100 block of Skokie Boulevard and seven more in the Village Center. Wilmette police said the offenders targeted cash at each establishment, a hallmark the department says fits a pattern seen in other regional burglary sprees, according to Patch.
A Chase That Ended on the Highway
Six Wilmette officers first responded at 3:47 a.m. to a possible commercial burglary on Skokie Boulevard involving up to four reported subjects, per the same Patch report. Minutes later, a witness alerted police at 4:09 a.m. to the sound of breaking glass in the Village Center, and two officers located a suspicious vehicle within blocks of the area.
Police attempted a traffic stop, but the driver refused to stop and merged onto I-94 from Lake Avenue, the outlet reports. A Chicago Police helicopter tracked the vehicle down and spotted several offenders fleeing on foot before Wilmette officers recovered the car, which is now being processed for evidence. Wilmette police said no arrests had been made as of their update, and the department’s preliminary investigation indicates a group traveling in that single vehicle was responsible for the Wilmette break-ins.
Pit & Tap Owner Describes a 90-Second Hit
Michael Clarke, who owns Pit & Tap, told the Tribune that six people emerged from a car near Wilmette and Central avenues in downtown Wilmette early Thursday. Three of them smashed through the bar’s front window, and security cameras recorded the group inside for just over 90 seconds before they fled with two cash registers and two tablets…