Chicago Police Department on Sunday afternoon, November 12, 2023 released the identity of the fleeing armed robber that was captured yesterday in Gurnee as Norbert Thigpen, age 36, of the block of 8400 South Mulligan in Burbank, Illinois.
Norbert Thigpen is charged with …
Robbery – Armed – Discharge Firearm
(Two felony counts)
Aggravated Fleeing/Police/21 MPH
(One felony count)
Thigpen is scheduled for a Detention Hearing on November 13, 2023 at 2600 South California in Chicago.
According to the Chicago Police Department, Norbert Thigpen was arrested on Saturday, November 11, 2023 at approximately 7:25 p.m. in the 0-100 mile range of south I-94 southbound in Gurnee, Illinois.
Thigpen was identified as the offender who, two hours earlier, entered a retail establishment in the block of 8600 South Cicero Avenue (CPD 8th District), and took property at gunpoint. According to the Chicago Police Department, the offender was located in Gurnee, Illinois where he was placed into custody and charged accordingly.
A CVS store at 8639 South Cicero Avenue was robbed before 6:10 p.m. Saturday, November 11, 2023 when a suspect displayed a handgun and demanded money from the cash register, according to Judy Wang (WGN News), who acquired a Chicago police statement. The CVS employee complied with the offender’s demand. The offender then fired a shot into the ceiling of the store and fled the scene in a red Chevy.
Area police were notified of the crime, and patrol vehicles and possibly task force vehicles involving the Illinois State Police, Cook County Sheriff’s police, and a police helicopter became involved in a search for the suspect’s vehicle.
POLICE PURSUIT …
A police chase was underway beginning around 6:11 p.m. Saturday, November 11, 2023 for the robbery suspect connected to the armed robbery at the CVS at a then undisclosed location in Chicago. The suspect’s vehicle was spotted approximately near I-294 and I-290 after area police officers were also notified that a round was possibly fired intentionally inside the CVS store. The suspect fled police on the expressway in a red Chevy — northbound on I-294, northbound on I-94, and then southbound on I-94, where the suspect was captured near Gurnee.
The suspect was captured after a pursuit that lasted about 70 minutes. The pursuit involved at least 24 police vehicles, according to a witness that saw the police vehicles heading northbound on I-294 somewhere between Willow Road/Palatine Road and Lake Cook Road near Northbrook.
Police continued the pursuit up I-294 northbound and I-94 northbound, and crossed the Wisconsin state line. The suspect turned around near Pleasant Prairie, Wisconsin; and then headed southbound back into Illinois.
Speeds during the pursuit were reported ranging from about 50-60 MPH to 90 MPH. Police blocked traffic at certain points during the pursuit on the interstate. Law enforcement in Kenosha County also assisted with spike strips near the Illinois-Wisconsin state line. Local police officers were also called to assist with blocking entrance ramps and exit ramps.
Police in Illinois used spike strips and PIT maneuvers along the way during the pursuit to attempt to stop the offender, activating their pursuit operation rapidly from the time the suspect was first spotted in the red Chevy about 6:10 p.m. near I-294 and I-290 to the point where the suspect was captured on I-94 south of Six Flags Great America. The suspect was passing southbound I-94 near Six Flags Great America about 7:20 p.m.
Police tagged the suspect with a PITT maneuver and boxed him in with multiple police vehicles at about 7:23 p.m. on I-94 southbound between Washington Street and Route 120. The suspect was in custody about 7:23 p.m. on the I-94 bridge — possibly over the Des Plaines River and Milwaukee Avenue.
Police officers approached the suspect in the red Chevy while protecting themselves with body shields, captured the suspect, and notified Chicago Police Department detectives that the suspect had been captured.
No injuries were reported, but police were investigating possible damage to vehicles that may have sustained tire damage from spike strips or other debris. Police were working to sort that information out, and make sure tollway patrons were assisted properly.
Following a 70-minute police pursuit with a suspect captured, involving multiple law enforcement agencies on I-294 and I-94, Chicago police say an investigation is underway after a robbery at a CVS pharmacy in the Ashburn neighborhood on Chicago’s Southwest Side (Judy Wang/WGN News). YouTube Tips ⓘ
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SUSPECT STOPPED …
ASHBURN CHICAGO …
Neighborhood of the CVS store robbery on Cicero Avenue near 86th Street.
I-94 NEAR GURNEE …