Thieves raid freight train on Chicago’s West Side, taking box after box

By Jermont Terry, Matthew Cramer

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    CHICAGO (WBBM) — Crowds of thieves descended freight train tracks on Chicago’s West Side Friday and went into stalled freight train cars—stealing whatever they could grab.

The looting happened on the Union Pacific train tracks between Kinzie and Lake streets. The train the thieves targeted was parked near the overpass at Cicero Avenue, and extended for several blocks west.

Chicago Police late Friday that two people were in custody after the hours-long train heist, The number of people seen stealing TVs and other electronics, and air fryers, was enough to make one question how so many people were able to pull it off and escape.

One by one, people made their way up the embankment to get to the tracks and raid the train.

“In all my years living on the West Side, I’ve never an actual freight train parked over a viaduct where people are actually going into it,” said Princess Shaw.

Yet CBS Skywatch captured just that Friday. Folks grabbed boxes of TVs from the train cars and easily loaded them onto the tops of waiting vehicles.

“People were just kind of standing there in like, in disbelief and awe, like—’Oh wow, I can’t believe this happened,'” Shaw said.

Shaw watched everything unfold from her car. She snapped some images and immediately called 911.

“I gave 911 a call. I’m talking to dispatch,” she said. “They’re like, ‘You’re not the only call that’s been made. We’ve had several calls. We’re waiting on car to be dispatched.'”

Police sources said the Chicago Police Department had to wait more than an hour for Union Pacific officers to respond and secure the tracks—leaving ample time for more and more people to loot the train cars.

“And they were just opening it up like it was Christmas,” Shaw said.

Video shows thieves lowering a TV from the tracks—and passing directly in front of a Chicago Police cruiser as the do so. Despite lights and sirens being on in that squad car, the thieves kept on with their illegal mission.

It was not clear late Friday if officers were in that squad car at the time, but radio dispatch reveals officers were not arresting anyone when first on scene.

“They’ve already shown that they’re not equipped or ready for what they did today, so if copycats come, they’re not ready,” Shaw said. “It took them an hour.”

CBS News Chicago captured more people a few blocks away scaling the embankment wall to get to other boxcars on the train—even after police arrived.

“Nothing but empty boxes,” Shaw said. “Nothing but, just scattered, everything, everywhere.”

The empty TV and air fryer boxes littered Cicero Avenue after the thieves ripped them open—leaving many to wonder how the thieves were able to pull off their crimes so easily.

“How did they know where the TVs were. It’s not like the freight trains are labeled,” Shaw said, “so it just leaves you—there’s a lot of questions here that are left unanswered.”

Late Friday, the exact dollar amount of the items stolen was not clear. Union Pacific said the train was stopped waiting for another rail company to connect with it when the thieves began opening containers.

Union Pacific added that the burglaries were not victimless crimes—saying they pose a safety threat to the public, rail workers, and officers.

Union Pacific West Metra trains were disrupted during the evening rush because of the heist. They were stopped near Kedzie Avenue for some time.

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