Chicago men accused of armed robbery at Addison gas station

A motion to deny pretrial release was granted Jan. 31 for two Chicago men accused of robbing an Addison gas station at gunpoint, prosecutors said.

The offenders, both 24, are charged with two counts of armed robbery with a firearm and one count of unlawful use of a weapon by a felon, according to a DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office news release. In addition, one of the offenders is facing one count of aggravated fleeing and eluding a police officer.

About 11:50 p.m. Jan. 30, Villa Park police saw a vehicle that was suspected of being involved in an armed robbery at a Villa Park gas station earlier this month traveling west on Interstate 290 into DuPage County, according to the release.

As police continued surveillance, the car exited I-290 heading west on Lake Street into Addison and backed into a parking spot near the front door of the Speedway gas station located at 701 E. Lake St. in Addison.

The two men allegedly exited the vehicle and entered the gas station store. Once in the store, one of the defendants allegedly began putting cigarettes in a garbage bag while the other pressed a gun to the side of a female clerk and ordered her to open the cash register, which she was unable to do as the register was in the process of rebooting.

A male customer entered the store while the robbery was in progress. One of the defendants pointed a gun at his head and told him to get on the floor, which he did. One of the defendants allegedly stole the man’s wallet. The two left the store with one of the men carrying the bag of cigarettes and fled the scene in their vehicle east on Lake Street, according to the release.

A Villa Park police officer deployed spike strips in the eastbound lanes of Lake Street, which the defendants avoided by driving east in the westbound lanes of Lake Street. A high-speed pursuit ensued as the defendants fled. The pursuit, which at times was in excess of 100 mph, involved about 20 police vehicles from multiple jurisdictions along multiple roads including Lake Street, Route 83, westbound I-290, I-355, Army Trail Road, eastbound I-290, 25th Avenue and Gardner Road.

During the pursuit, spike strips were successfully deployed on I-290 at Manheim Road, which ended the pursuit near the intersection of Gardner Road and Gladstone Street when the defendants’ vehicle crashed into a marked police car. Both defendants fled on foot but were taken into custody within blocks of the crash. When searching the defendants’ vehicle, police allegedly recovered a loaded Glock 22 pistol with an extended magazine, according to the release.

“In DuPage County, we will not sit idly by and allow the type of violent gun crime such as is alleged against [the defendants] to occur,” DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said in the release. “I cannot overstate the seriousness of the charges against these two men. After allegedly robbing a gas station at gunpoint, the defendants then allegedly led approximately 20 police cars on an extremely dangerous high-speed chase. We are all thankful that no innocent motorists or the victims at the gas station were physically harmed as a result of the defendants’ alleged actions.”

The next court appearance for both men is scheduled for Feb. 26 for arraignment.