Seven masked and gloved suspects stormed into a fuel center convenience store in Buffalo Grove with sledgehammers and robbed the business, which was open, police said.
The Buffalo Grove Police Department responded around 4:06 a.m. on September 18 to Ricky Rockets Fuel Center, 700 East Lake Cook Road in Buffalo Grove, for a call about an armed robbery.
A police report said seven masked and gloved subjects entered the business with sledgehammers.
They proceeded to smash several video gaming machines.
The report said the suspects were only successful in taking the money box from one of the machines.
Ricky Rockets Fuel Center is a 24-hour gas station with a convenience store, express car wash, liquor sales and video gaming, according to its website.
The gas station was open at the time but the employees were left unharmed.
Buffalo Grove Police Department Sgt. Meghan Hansen said no threats were made during the robbery.
The suspects were armed with sledgehammers and a crowbar but no guns were seen.
Hansen said investigators are working with the owners of the gaming machines to identify costs to repair or replace the machines and determine how much cash was stolen.
The suspects fled in a vehicle at a high rate of speed prior to police arrival and officers did not make contact with them, she said.
No arrests have been announced and the incident remains under investigation by the Buffalo Grove Police Department.
The suspects are believed to be the same crew responsible for a large number of video gaming burglaries and robberies in the Chicagoland area, Hansen said.
The Lake County Sheriff’s Office responded shortly after 4 a.m. on August 14 to a burglar alarm at Fatmans, 36309 Skokie Highway in unincorporated Gurnee, where surveillance video showed more than 10 offenders inside the business, according to Lake County Sheriff’s Office Chief Christopher Covelli.
Covelli said the offenders forced entry through the front glass door and broke into several gaming machines and an ATM.
Deputies responded a short time later to a burglary in progress at Gas N Wash, 14010 West Rockland Road in Green Oaks, where surveillance video again showed more than 10 offenders breaking into gaming machines with hammers and sledgehammers.
Christian Khayat, an owning partner of Khayat Enterprises, which operates Fatmans, said the damage to his restaurant was just under $150,000, not including the cash stolen, and that investigators had linked the crew to approximately 130 burglaries.
“We believe this group is suspected of being involved in dozens of gaming machine burglaries throughout the Chicagoland area,” Covelli said in August.
Five masked and gloved offenders used sledgehammers and crowbars to break into gaming machines and a cash register drawer at the same Gas N Wash around 3:35 a.m. on September 9 while a sixth suspect waited outside in a black SUV, Covelli said.
A witness said the suspects jumped over the counter, threatened the clerk and threw a glass bottle at him as they began removing the cash register.
The SUV was last seen fleeing southbound on Interstate 294 and the Chicago Police Department later recovered proceeds from the robbery on the South Side of Chicago, Covelli said.
Sheriff’s detectives and detectives from other agencies across the Chicagoland region have since formed a task force to investigate the gaming machine burglaries and share intelligence, Covelli said.
Suspects targeting gaming machines burglarized The Fogcutter, 36021 Route 45 in unincorporated Lake Villa, around 2:54 a.m. on September 15 and fled in a black Infiniti Q50 with no license plates, Covelli said.
A Lake County sheriff’s sergeant watching a bar and lounge with gaming machines in unincorporated Deerfield saw the Infiniti pull into its parking lot and the car sped off as the sergeant approached.
The Infiniti reached speeds well over 100 mph on Milwaukee Avenue and Lake Cook Road before getting onto Interstate 294 toward Chicago and was traveling so fast that the sergeant and a Riverwoods Police Department officer lost sight of it, Covelli said.