Harwood Heights police are looking for a man wanted in an armed robbery that occurred Wednesday morning in a residential neighborhood.
At about 8 a.m. on Sept. 14, the man walked into a home in the 7500 block of Carmen Avenue through an unlocked door leading to a back patio, police said. He confronted a man who lives in the home with a black handgun and demanded cash and jewelry, according to Deputy Police Chief John DeVries.
Police released a sketch of the suspect. He was described as a black man with a thin build, between 30-35 years old. Police said he was wearing a black jacket and a black floppy hat.
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The victim had been upstairs with his wife, 5-year-old daughter and newborn baby when he went downstairs and saw the man standing in the kitchen, police said.
“The man said to stay calm and that he wanted his wallet,” DeVries said. “He told him it was out in the car, so he then asked for his wedding rings.”
Still holding the firearm, the man followed the victim upstairs and into a bedroom, where he retrieved his wife’s wedding ring, which police said was valued at about $7,000. The man didn’t make contact with the victim’s wife or children, other than to tell them to be quiet, police said.
“The victim said the man was very calm and polite the whole time,” DeVries said, adding that the incident would not be classified as a home invasion because the man never threatened the victim with the weapon or pointed it in his direction.
After he was handed the ring, the man told the victim to stay in the room and warned him not to call the police. He was inside the home for a total of about five minutes, police said. A white van traveling at a high rate of speed was seen leaving the area shortly after the man left the home, but police did not know whether it was connected to the crime.
No one in the home was injured. The investigation is ongoing.
Natalie Hayes is a freelance reporter for Pioneer Press.