LINCOLNWOOD, IL — A Chicago man robbed a gas station clerk and a woman waiting for the bus at gunpoint Thursday morning in Lincolnwood before he was arrested in Evanston, authorities said.
Raju Patel, 50, of the 4800 block of North Harding Avenue in Chicago’s Albany Park neighborhood, was arrested around 10:45 a.m. in the 1700 block of Howard Street and charged with two counts of armed robbery in connection with the two incidents, according to Lincolnwood police.
Officers had been dispatched to the first robbery at a gas station in the 4000 block of Touhy Avenue just before 6 a.m.
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Patel, initially described as a middle-aged man, allegedly displayed a firearm and demanded cigarettes and cash, police said.
While officers were investigating the gas station incident, they got word of the second robbery, which took place just few minutes and about a block from the gas station robbery, Deputy Chief Travis Raypole said.
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In that case, a woman who had been waiting for the bus in the 3900 block of Touhy Avenue told police that a man had threatened her with a gun and demanded her phone.
The gunman fled the scene with the victim’s purse and identification, but investigators were able to quickly identify a car associated with the suspected robber and use automated license plate readers to track it down, Raypole told Patch.
Following an initial court appearance, a Cook County judge ordered Patel jailed ahead of his next court appearance Nov. 19 in Skokie, according to the sheriff’s office.
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