Gunmen sought in two separate robberies that led to home invasions, gun battle on Southwest Side

Police are looking for two gunmen in connection with separate robberies and home invasions that took place 15 minutes apart, including one that sparked a shootout early Thursday on the Southwest Side.

At 1:40 a.m., a 17-year-old boy was getting out of a car in the 3300 block of West 59th Place in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood when two assailants exited a black SUV that pulled up behind him and demanded his property before forcing him into a home and robbing him, police said. The robbers fled in the same SUV.

Fifteen minutes earlier, a 20-year-old man and his 56-year-old mother were in a vehicle in the 6200 block of South Kolin Avenue in the West Lawn neighborhood when they were confronted by two gunmen who took their property and followed them into a home.

A friend of their family who lives across the street from the Kolin Avenue home said a car drove down the one-way street going the wrong way before forcing the victims, who were on their way to work, into their home at gunpoint. The neighbor, who declined to give her name citing safety concerns, said the woman offered everything in her pockets to keep the robbers from going inside.

Once inside, they robbed them again, sparking an exchange of gunfire between the victims and the attackers, who eventually got away, police said.

The neighbor said the family called off work Thursday and was recovering. A front window on their home is marked with what appears to be a bullet hole.

“She said she was praying right before this [robbery],” the neighbor said. “She’s really religious, so she’s doing OK.”

The neighbor called on Mayor Brandon Johnson to make good on his campaign promise to hire new detectives to help solve crimes like this. The city has reported a nearly $1 billion budget shortfall that has halted hiring in almost all departments.

“1,000 detectives, where are they?” the neighbor said, pointing up and down the street.

No one was injured, and a gun was recovered from the Kolin Avenue scene.

A police spokesperson said it’s not clear if the two attacks are related and said no arrests have been made.

Area One detectives are investigating.