Armed burglars smash into GameStop and hit officer with car to escape cops
A Chicago police officer was hospitalized after being struck by a getaway vehicle during an armed smash-and-grab burglary at a GameStop on the city’s Northwest Side.
The incident happened around 4:26 a.m. on August 7, when officers spotted multiple armed suspects burglarizing a business in the 2900 block of West Addison Street in Avondale. Police say the crew drove a vehicle through the front of theGameStopbefore loading stolen goods into a white Chrysler sedan and a red Jeep SUV.
As they fled, one of the vehicleshit a responding officer, prompting the officer to fire their weapon. Police confirmed no one was struck by the gunfire. The injured officer was taken to the hospital with non-life-threatening injuries.
GameStop burglars escape police after wild chase
Officers pursued the suspects, but the chase ended when a squad car was hit by an unrelated civilian driver. No officers were hurt in that crash, and the suspects escaped. No arrests have been made.
Neighbors toldABCthat the store has been targeted before. Kyle Pucciarello, who lives nearby, he immediately suspected the GameStop had been hit again.
“This is not the first time someone’s hit the GameStop in the past five years, so it’s not too surprising,” Pucciarello said. “But to see all this police activity out here is kind of shocking.”
Detectives are still investigating, and police are urging anyone with information to come forward.
This isn’t the first time thieves have rammed a car into a store. Back in 2023, a group of three men were caughtcrashing a truck into a California collectible storein order to steal over $1M in items, including Pokemon cards.
Store pleads for help to find masked robbers who stole $30k worth of Labubus
Pokemon card community helps police catch $115K thief in massive card heist
Pokemon TCG shop has $94k stolen by another TCG shop in the neighborhood
