Police suspect Arlington Heights crimes are connected

Arlington Heights police and the Cook County Sheriff's Department are investigating two similar incidents involving a group of armed men who robbed one man and attempted to mug a second in Arlington Heights this week.

Both incidents occurred within a block of each other and involved a group of men dressed in black with white towels over their faces traveling on foot in Arlington Heights, police said.

On Sunday evening four people matching the above description and armed with a long gun, possibly a rifle, approached a man walking his dog on the 4100 block of North Bloomington Avenue and demanded he put his hands up, police said.

The man ran, and the suspects fled.

The second incident took place just after midnight Tuesday morning.

A 25-year-old man was changing his vehicle's antifreeze in a parking on the 2300 block of West Nichols Road, just a block away from Sunday's incident, when he was approached from behind by three men clothed in black with white towels over their faces, police said.

The men were also armed with one weapon and demanded the man put his hands up before stealing his wallet and two cell phones, said Liana Jackson of the sheriff's office.

Police said the two crimes are “most likely connected and that the investigation is ongoing.