Two men have been charged with the armed robbery of a 38-year-old Aurora man outside his home on the city’s Far East Side.
Ameen Salaam, 23, of the 15000 block of Oak Street, Dolton, and George Pittman, 24, of the 100 block of North Menard, Chicago, are both charged with single felony counts of armed robbery with a firearm. Salaam is also charged with unlawful possession of a controlled substance. Both were present at bond hearings Friday, are listed in custody at the DuPage County jail and are next due in court Feb. 8.
Orders signed by DuPage County Circuit Judge George J. Bakalis set Salaam’s bail at $150,000, and Pittman’s bail at $250,000, with each needing to post 10 percent to apply for bond.
The man said he parked in his driveway on the 2700 block of Preston Court after getting off work and had just got out of his car shortly before 11:30 p.m. Wednesday when two men approached him. One of the men had a handgun, police said.
When the man saw the gun, he made a lot of noise and ran away toward his front door, he told police.
“It appears the two men were alarmed by all the noise the victim was making,” police said in their statement, noting that after stealing a pair of shoes from the man’s car, the men ran to their own vehicle parked near Preston Court on Prairieview Lane.
The man they’d robbed said he heard gunshots before the men left the area and decided to follow them in his car, police said.
The robbers reportedly shot at the man more than once from their car before losing control of their vehicle and driving into a ditch near Butterfield Road and DuPage Parkway, then running away into a wooded area, police said.
Within an hour, police found Salaam walking near Butterfield and Hedgerow, with about 3.5 grams of cocaine on him, they said. Special operations investigators found Pittman inside a car they’d followed from the area of the robbery to Orchard and Interstate 88 and took him into custody without incident, police said. The driver was not charged, police said.
Police said investigators believe at least two other people were in the suspect vehicle when it crashed. No injuries were reported and police did not find anything struck by the gunfire or locate a gun, police said. The stolen shoes, however, were found near DuPage Parkway and Blue Spruce Lane, police said.
“The robbery is not a random act and detectives are crediting area residents for supplying key information that was passed along to the police,” according to the police statement.
Aurora police announced the charges, which were authorized by the DuPage County State’s Attorney’s Office, Friday on Facebook. DuPage County Sheriff’s deputies and Illinois State Police assisted Aurora police, they said.
