Police seek two after botched robbery

A botched robbery wounded a pair of restaurant workers and shattered the Sunday night calm at a landmark Lake County eatery.

Six to seven customers and employees at the Silo restaurant on Route 176 near Lake Bluff were terrorized for a short time by two armed suspects, who ended up fleeing without any cash.

Police believe the suspects cased the Silo while they sat and ate dinner for 95 minutes before announcing their intention to rob it, then attempted to herd witnesses into a closet and take their cell phones.

"This act was an outrage, and we have all our resources invested in finding and capturing these people as quickly as we can," Lake County Sheriff Mark Curran said. "Evidence has been collected and sent to the crime lab with a rush order, and we are reviewing the available videotapes of the incident."

Police said two men entered the restaurant around 9:15 p.m. and ordered something to eat.

When the waitress brought their bill, she was grabbed and forced into the bar area where a few patrons were seated, police said.

The suspects were trying to force their hostages into a broom closet when one patron broke from the crowd and ran for the door.

One shot was fired from a .40 caliber handgun that missed the fleeing patron but struck a 27-year-old male employee in the back of the upper right arm and passed through his limb.

The bullet continued into the back of a 31-year-old employee and passed into his abdomen, police said.

The employee struck in the arm is in good condition and expected to be released from the hospital, police said. The employee with the abdominal wound is in intensive care in a local hospital.

The restaurant was closed Monday and officials were not available for comment.

Curran said investigators have recovered several items of evidence, including the plates the men ate from, a shell casing and other items being tested at the crime lab.

Videotapes from inside and outside the bar also are being reviewed, and may show the suspects fleeing in a red Ford Taurus, he said.

The suspects are described as 30 to 40 years old. Curran said he believes a police sketch artist will have depictions of the suspects available as early as today.

The crime sent shock waves through the normally quiet neighborhood, where the family restaurant has specialized in deep dish pizza for nearly 40 years.

Al Marriott of Highland Park said he remembered living in the area of the Silo when it was first built and how quickly it became one of his favorite places.

"It has always just been a great place; you could take the kids in there and they could run around to their heart's content," Marriott said. "It is such a shame that something like this could happen there."

Curran agreed the pattern was similar to the 1993 murders of seven people at a Brown's Chicken & Pasta restaurant in Palatine, but said Monday there was nothing to indicate any such violence was planned. In the Brown's Chicken murder, authorities say at least one suspect dined before forcing the witnesses into the coolers, where they were killed.

Curran said investigators believe the crime may have been an example of an "I-294 Highway Robbery" scenario, where criminals in Chicago and Milwaukee target establishments close to the tollway because of the easy access to on and off ramps of a high-speed road.

"We are talking to police in Chicago and Milwaukee about what we have and what we are trying to collect," he said. "All possible angles are being investigated."