Palatine investigation widens

Originally published Jan. 14, 1993

Palatine investigators are checking into armed robberies in several towns to see if there are similarities to the massacre at the Brown's Chicken & Pasta in Palatine. Among them:

• Nov. 16, Purple Martin Mini-Mart, Addison: Two robbers empty cash register, order clerk into storeroom and shoot her six times with a .45-caliber handgun. She survives.

• Dec. 7, Super Mexican Grocery, Mundelein: Five men, one with a small caliber handgun, herd two employees into a cooler during a robbery.

• Dec. 19, Taco Bell, Des Plaines: Three gunmen force three employees to open the safe, force them into a cooler and leave with about $1,000.

• Dec. 22, Castillo's Grocery Store, Arlington Heights: Four men, all carrying guns, force a clerk and four customers to lay on the floor, take money from customers and from cash register. Two men arrested and linked to Mundelein robbery; one also suspected in Des Plaines robbery.