2 Chicagoans charged with robbing Evanston grocery store at knifepoint

Two Chicagoans were charged Monday with stealing bottles of liquor at knifepoint from a grocery store in north suburban Evanston.

Officers responded at 4:49 p.m. to a Jewel grocery store at 1128 Chicago Ave. for a report of a retail theft where one of the suspects was armed with a knife, according to Evanston police. Employees told officers they saw a man and woman putting three bottles of alcohol into their backpacks. The bottles were valued at $61.78.

When employees confronted the robbers and asked them to put the liquor back, the robbers continued to walk towards the store’s exit, police said. As the suspects approached the employees, the man opened a pocket knife and held it to the chest of an employee. Fearing for their safety, the employees let the pair leave the store.

Officers later tracked the suspects to the 900 block of Sherman Avenue, and recovered alcohol and a pocket knife, police said.

Greg A. McCoy, 32, of the Far South Side Roseland neighborhood, was charged with a single felony count of armed robbery, police said. Calendula Owens, 37, of the Fuller Park neighborhood, was charged with a single felony count of retail theft.