DePaul students robbed by armed men in surgical masks on North Side

SUN-TIMES MEDIA WIRE - A group of armed men wearing surgical masks robbed six DePaul University students in separate hold-ups early Thursday in the Bucktown and Lincoln Park neighborhoods on the North Side.

One student was walking near Racine and Clybourn about 12:20 a.m. when armed men jumped out of a white Audi and demanded the student’s belongings, according to a security alert from DePaul’s Public Safety Office. Chicago Police said the robbery occurred in the 1600 block of West Armitage.

Another student was walking about 12:25 a.m. in the 2300 block of North Sheffield when two men jumped out of the white Audi and robbed him, according to police and campus security. The suspects then got back in the Audi and drove north on Sheffield.

Four more students were robbed by armed men who got out of the white Audi about 12:30 a.m. in the 2500 block of North Sheffield, police and campus security said.

A fourth robbery happened about 10 minutes later in the 900 block of South Western on the Near West Side, police said.

The suspects were described as a group of four to five men between 18 and 22 years old, police said. One of them was wearing a burgundy hooded sweatshirt, while another was wearing an orange hoodie. The vehicle was described as a white Audi SUV.

All of the suspects who got out of the SUV were armed with handguns and wearing surgical masks, police said.

Anyone with information is asked to call Area North detectives at (312) 744-8263.