Police look for robbery suspects
By CARRIE FRILLMAN cfrillman@daily-chronicle.com
DeKALB – DeKalb Police are looking for two men who they say robbed four teenagers Friday afternoon while they were walking along Fifth Street.
The group of teens went to the DeKalb Police Station at 200 S. Fourth St., around 1:30 p.m. to report the crime, said DeKalb Police Lt. Gary Spangler.
They told detectives that earlier, they were approached by two men in the 500 block of South Fifth Street. The men asked one of the teenagers if they could borrow a cell phone, Spangler said. They were given the phone and then demanded other property, threatening they would shoot the victims if they didn't comply.
"They implied a gun but did not show one," Spangler said. "Then they both fled the scene on foot. One fled northbound and the other fled westbound."
Victims described the robbers as two black men between the ages of 18 and 23 years old. They were each around 6 feet tall, but may have been as tall as 6 feet 3 inches, Spangler said, citing the victims' report. One of the men was wearing a black hooded sweatshirt and dark pants and the other was wearing a gray hooded sweatshirt with dark pants, he added.
Friday's incident is similar to a robbery that occurred late Monday night in downtown DeKalb. While a man was waiting at the intersection of Fourth Street and Lincoln Highway around 11:30 p.m. that night, he was approached by two other men. One of the men asked the pedestrian for change, Spangler said of the earlier robbery.
One of the suspects then demanded property while pushing an object into the victim's stomach — the victim initially thought it was a gun and later realized was a cell phone, Spangler said.
The suspects in Monday's robbery are described as black males who were 18 to 20 years old, Spangler said. One was about 5-10 and weighed 160-180 pounds, while the other was 6-2 and weighed 160-180 pounds, according to the victim's descriptions.
"Certainly when we investigate, we keep both incidents in mind," Spangler said. "They were both on this side of town ... There are some similarities between the two but I can't make a judgment right now whether they are related."
Anyone with information about either robbery is asked to call the DeKalb Police Department at 815-748-8400 or the DeKalb County Crime Stoppers at 815-895-3272.
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