5 suspects in Winnetka armed robbery held by Wilmette officer on NW Side

Five men wanted in connection with an armed robbery Monday afternoon in Winnetka were taken into custody in the Sauganash neighborhood on the Northwest Side.

Officers from Winnetka responded about 4:15 p.m. to a call of an armed robbery in the 900 block of Ash Street in the north suburb, according to Winnetka police Chief Marc Hornstein. When they arrived, officers were given a description of a vehicle that was used in the robbery.

A Wilmette police officer saw a vehicle matching the description and followed it south on the Edens Expressway, Wilmette police Deputy Chief Patrick Collins said. The officer, a 15-year veteran of the department, got out of his cruiser and held the suspect’s SUV as it was waiting in a line of vehicles at a traffic light at Cicero and Peterson avenues.

“[The officer] did a good job of spotting the vehicle and following it down the highway,” Collins said Tuesday.

About 4:30 p.m., Winnetka police and Chicago police responded to the scene after the vehicle had been stopped, Hornstein and CPD News Affairs Officer Michelle Tannehill said.

A photo posted to Twitter by an assignment editor for CBS Chicago showed the Wilmette officer pointing a handgun at a Chevrolet Trail Blazer.

Some of the men taken into custody who were were being held in Winnetka, while others were being housed in another unnamed jurisdiction, Hornstein said.