Authorities arrested six people in connection to a looting of trains on Chicago’s west side.
The chaos unfolded around 2:40 p.m. Friday in the 4700 block of W. Kenzie before extending to Lake Street and Lockwood Avenue, in the Austin neighborhood.A mob descended on a freight train that was stopped on the tracks. SkyFOX video captured thieves looting cargo containers and hauling stolen goods away.The train was stopped and awaiting an interchange with a partner railroad when swarms of thieves began opening containers, according to Union Pacific.”Rail burglaries are not victimless crimes and they pose a safety threat to the public, our employees and local law enforcement officers,” a spokesperson with Union Pacific said in a statement.
The mob took TVs, air fryers, and other appliances. Union Pacific recovered some of the items.
The thieves caused massive backups during rush hour, too.
Unfortunately, it’s the second time in a few months thieves targeted stopped trains:
The railway is no stranger to these type of freight cargo thefts. It was the second time in a few months people allegedly broke into cargo trains on the train route.”This happens on and on, over and over again,” [witness Princess] Shaw said.It was back in August, near Lawler and Kinzie on the city’s West Side, when thieves broke into another freight train and got away with multiple boxes full of TVs, police said.It is a crime of opportunity in a West Side neighborhood that Shaw said, for many, is empty of opportunities.”Who’s really doing something about this, right?” Shaw said. “Because obviously this is a broken system.”
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