Salon robber sought

Suburban police departments are looking for a man who is believed to be responsible for a series of robberies of hair salons in the area, with the most recent incident occurring at about 12:25 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 10, at the Supercuts, 3539 W. Dempster St., Skokie.

An employee reported that a man entered the salon, displayed a gun and took $345 from the cash register, according to the Skokie Police Department.

“We think that he hit hair salons here and in the suburbs,” Skokie police officer Joseph Marzigliano said. “Hair salons are mainly a cash business, so they usually have a lot of money on hand. The man walks in and points a gun and demands cash.”

The employee reported that she recognized the man as the one who was shown in an alert that was released to area hair salons after robberies that occurred in Chicago, Skokie, Niles, Morton Grove, Glen Ellyn, Bensenville and Lombard, according to police. The department released the alert after a robbery on Dec. 27 at the Hair Cuttery, 9442 N. Skokie Blvd.

In that incident, a man entered the store, brought an item to the register, displayed a revolver and demanded money from the cashier, police said. Most of the robberies have occurred in the early morning or late in the evening at a salon in a strip mall.

The man was described as white, age 35 to 45, 5-10 to 6-1 and 200 to 230 pounds, and wearing a black hooded sweatshirt. In the Hair Cuttery robbery he was described as wearing a dark jacket, blue jeans, a gray knit hat, sunglasses and a scarf covering his face and carrying a dark colored shoulder bag, wearing dark gloves and gray and blue tennis shoes.

Anyone with information regarding the robberies is asked to call the Skokie Police Department Investigation Division at 837-982-5958.