Chicago was hit with a number of break-ins on Black Friday.
According to local reports, three stores on the city's northwest side were robbed in the early morning on Friday. During the course of one hour in Chicago's Wicker Park neighborhood, the targets of North Face, Footlocker, and Boost Mobile were looted.
Police responded to an incident at a Canada Goose store in Chicago where a window was shattered and several coats were taken.
The robbery of a Louis Vuitton store at Oak Brook Mall in Chicago on November 19 has led to a string of incidents. They follow a spree of smash-and-grab robberies in California in the past two weeks, mostly luxury retailers in the Bay Area.
Scott Decker, a professor at Arizona State University and an expert on robberies and gangs, told Insider earlier this week that media coverage of the incidents may be prompting copycat events.
He said that it could be someone who sees it on TV and says, "Hey, the cops in my city aren't that sophisticated,' or "We could get away with one if we just go in real quickly and get out quickly."
The first Black Friday incident in Chicago was reported at the House of Hoops by Foot Locker location on North Milwaukee Avenue at 1:40 a.m., where officers responded to an alarm and found broken windows and missing products.
The next happened 20 minutes later at a nearby North Face store, where police reported that the door had been pried open and coats were taken. Various electronic devices had been stolen after police responded to another alarm at a mobile phone store.
Police would not say if the incidents are related or if anyone is in custody.
