LOGAN SQUARE — Attacks targeting women in the Logan Square area have left residents and community leaders on edge.
Police are searching for an attacker who recently assaulted at least three women — one of them sexually — along a 1-mile stretch of Logan Square and Humboldt Park in separate incidents.
“Being a woman out on the street is really scary any day, and the idea that on the way home from work, or even coming back from a restaurant, that there’s another thing I need to worry about — it’s unfortunate and scary,” neighbor Emily Osborne said Tuesday afternoon while waiting for the bus.
Police think a man in a construction or Amazon vest wearing all black clothing is responsible for all three attacks, two of which happened over the weekend.
About 3:30 p.m. Friday in the 1600 block of North Humboldt Boulevard, a 39-year-old woman was trying to get into her building when a man grabbed her, slammed her head against the wall and sexually assaulted her, police said.
“I went to the corner store and this guy came behind me,” the woman told ABC7. “I didn’t really think anything about it. He just came right behind me into the building and then proceeded to do what he did.”
Attempts to reach the woman Tuesday were unsuccessful.
Another attack happened 3:30 a.m. Saturday in the 2000 block of North Humboldt Boulevard. A 36-year-old woman was on her way inside her building when a man attacked her from behind and put a black bag over her head, police said.
The woman screamed and fought off the man, police said. The man ran eastbound down an alley on Armitage Avenue.
A third assault happened April 11, police said. A man tried to get into a 36-year-old woman’s building in the 2000 block of North Humboldt Boulevard, asking if a certain tenant lived there. Then, the man tried to force his way into the woman’s apartment. The woman used pepper spray to fight off the man, police said.
Resident Casandra Olaguez brought pepper spray with when walking her two dogs Tuesday, the first time she’s done that in five years of living in Logan Square, she said. Olaguez lives near where two of the attacks occurred.
“I was actually scared to walk,” Olaguez said. “This is the first time something bad like this has happened, especially three women assaulted back to back.”
While the neighborhood sees gun violence and other crimes, this spree feels different, said neighbors Bella Foote and Will Davis, 24.
“The shootings are less random. This is more targeted toward females,” Foote said.
Two of the attacks happened in Ald. Scott Waguespack’s 32nd Ward. Waguespack didn’t respond to requests for comment, but he told ABC7 neighbors need to step up and work together to keep the community safe.
Anyone with information about the spree is encouraged to call detectives at 312-746-6554.
https://blockclubchicago.org/2022/05/10/logan-square-neighbors-on-edge-after-3-women-attacked-on-humboldt-boulevard-in-separate-incidents/
