Teens robbed at gunpoint while playing Pokemon Go in Lake Villa
Pokemon Go
(SUN TIMES MEDIA WIRE) - A pair of teenage brothers were robbed at gunpoint while playing the Pokemon Go online game Thursday night in north suburban Lake Villa.
The boys were playing the mobile game shortly after 10 p.m. in a residential area near Morton Drive and Carol Lane in unincorporated Lake Villa when a car parked near them, according to the Lake County sheriff’s office.
Two men got out of the car, one of them pulled out a gun and they took the boys’ phones, police said. They then got back in the car and drove away. Neither of the boys was injured.
The suspect who displayed the gun was described as a shirtless black man in his early 20s with dreadlocks, police said. The other suspect was a white man, also in his early 20s, with “spikey” hair.
Sheriff’s Detective Christopher Covelli said it was “the first robbery the sheriff’s office has investigated that has a link to Pokémon Go,” a popular new mobile app that has been a worldwide hit in recent weeks and months.
He said detectives are investigating the possibility that being distracted by the game made the teens easier targets for the robbers.
Anyone with information should call the sheriff’s office at (847) 549-5200 or Lake County CrimeStoppers at (847) 662-2222.