Photo from cwbchicago.com.
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Two men are in custody for the brazen kidnapping and armed robbery of an innocent man. Police say this is only one of many armed robberies committed by the duo, and the details are chilling.
What Happened
Shortly before 4 am on March 14, the 27-year-old victim was walking home. He was coming from The Hangge-Uppe nightclub on 14 West Elm Street. As he made his way, a white SUV pulled up beside him. According to prosecutors, the passenger called him over and lifted his shirt to show a gun tucked in his waistband. After the armed suspect demanded the victim get in his car, the victim did so hesitantly.
Court records say the two suspects robbed the man of his “wallet, personal cellphone, and work phone” once inside the vehicle. The suspects then made him turn over the passwords for his phones and bank accounts.
For the next hour or two, they drove the victim to a number of ATMs to withdraw money. Eventually, the transactions started getting declined. So, the suspects got creative and went to a bank drive-through, but the transaction was declined. The suspects weren’t about to give up, but neither was the victim.
As the suspects drove around distracted by greed, the victim noticed an iPhone beneath the front passenger seat. He snatched it up and hid it on himself. While he did this, the suspects spotted a 7-Eleven in River North.
They told the victim to go inside to withdraw money, while they circled the block. The victim got out of the car, but the store was closed. The employees wouldn’t let him in. So, when the victim saw the vehicle of the suspects had disappeared from view, he used the iPhone to call the police to the scene. The nightmare was over, but not completely.
According to reports, the next day, the victim found that $324 had been withdrawn from his bank account. The ATM transaction had occurred minutes after he had been dropped off at the 7-Eleven. The suspects had gotten away with the man’s cash and valuables, but they had left a trail of evidence in their wake.
The Wintrust Bank at 100 West North Avenue had declined one of the victim’s transactions, and police linked that bank to a prior robbery. Using the surveillance footage from that bank, police identified a Lincoln MKT registered to Lamont Gary, who’s 51 years of age. The police were on him.
Investigators got a judge to sign a search warrant, and they began tracking Gary. Surveillance showed his vehicle generally traveled through the same area of the robbery in the early morning. Gary’s time was running out.
On March 21, a week after the robbery, Gary was pulled over in the South Loop by the Chicago Police for a traffic violation. In the stop caught on camera, Gary is driving, while Kareem Burnett, 50, is in the passenger seat, according to prosecutors. Based on the circumstances, both men were taken and placed in separate photo lineups. They got what they were looking for.
The victim pointed out Gary as the driver and Burnett as the armed muscle. Police also searched the iPhone and found it belonged to a man who had been robbed on February 28. It happened after two men had approached him near The Hangge-Uppe bar. This armed robbery is being investigated as part of a string.
As reported by cwbchicago.com, “Authorities are also investigating another robbery reported on March 7 at 1:15 a.m. near Division and Wells streets that allegedly involved the same Lincoln and two offenders. No charges have been filed in the February 28 or March 7 incidents.”
The Takeaway
Kareem Burnett, 50, and Lamont Gary, 51, have been charged with Armed Robbery and Kidnapping. They have been ordered detained by Judge Antara until trial. Although they are currently charged in just this current case, more charges appear to be looming. Police are investigating several other armed robberies in which these two men might have been involved. The details are still developing.
Jermaine Reed, MFA is an educator and the Editor-in-Chief of TheReedersBlock. Take time to Subscribe. It helps promote independent journalism and the site. Follow him on TikTok, where he has over 9 million views and nearly 1 million likes. Help him get there.
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