5 teenage boys charged with armed robbery of South Loop cellphone store

Five teenage boys were charged with robbing a South Loop cellphone store at gunpoint on Thursday.

Officers responded about 1 p.m. to a call of a robbery at a cellphone store in the first block of East Harrison Street and saw the five teens running away, according to Chicago Police.

The group had entered the store, armed with various cutting instruments and threatened the employees while removing cellphones from their displays, police said. No one was injured during the robbery.

Three of the teens were placed into custody at 1:38 p.m. in the 1400 block of South Jefferson, police said. The other two were apprehended at the same time in the 500 block of West 14th Place.

Each of the teens — two 16-year-old boys, two 14-year-old boys and a 15-year-old boy — was charged with one felony count of armed robbery and two misdemeanor counts of aggravated assault, police said.

One of the 16-year-olds was charged with an additional two counts of armed robbery, four more counts of aggravated assault, and one count each of attempted armed robbery and aggravated battery in connection with two other robberies, police said.

One of the robberies happened at 3:54 p.m. Jan. 3 when multiple suspects entered a cellphone store in the 1800 block of West Division and stole merchandise from a display, police said. In this incident, a 26-year-old man was stabbed in the chest and taken to Stroger Hospital, where his condition stabilized.

The other robbery happened on Jan. 9 when the 16-year-old tried to force his way through the front door of a cellphone store while armed with a knife and in the company of other people ,police said. Employees secured the door and the suspects ran off.