Armed robbers working through northern Lake Co., police say
The weekend robbery of an Antioch pizza shop is the latest in a string of stickups across northern Lake County, police say as they continue searching for a pair of masked and armed bandits.
Antioch Police Cmdr. James Ruth said two suspects entered through the rear door of Domino's Pizza on the 600 block of W. Route 173 just before midnight Saturday. They confronted the store manager, displayed a handgun and ordered the manager to open the safe and the cash register.
The manager and a delivery person, who entered the store during the robbery and was forced to lay on the floor, were not injured, Ruth said.
The thieves made off with an undisclosed amount of cash. Ruth said a K-9 unit tracked their escape to a nearby parking lot, where the bandits jumped into a car and fled the scene.
Ruth said the pattern is similar to what's been reported during at least 10 store robberies in the past five weeks. Other robberies have been in Antioch, Fox Lake, Lake Villa, Grayslake, and Pleasant Prairie and Lake Geneva, Wis.
"They cover their faces with bandannas and use gloves, then take off on foot to a waiting car somewhere," he said.
One suspect is described as a male black about 5-feet, 10-inches tall, in his early 20s, and the second suspect is a Hispanic or dark-skinned white male in his early 20s, about 5-feet, 10-inches tall, Ruth said. Both wear dark, hooded sweatshirts, handkerchiefs over their face, and gloves, he said, and they enter and exit the stores in about two minutes.
Police from across northern Lake County and southern Wisconsin met in early May to swap information about the thieves, Fox Lake Police Chief Mike Behan said. In each robbery, Behan said, one or two masked felons would walk into a store, display a gun and demand money.
Ruth said businesses in northern Lake County should take extra precautions, including locking doors that don't need to be opened, and not keeping extra cash on hand.
"Make extra deposits if needed to limit any money taken," he said.
Anyone with information about this or other robberies is asked to contact the Antioch Police Department at (847) 395-8585.