Bolingbrook cellphone store robbed

BOLINGBROOK – Three armed robbers struck at a cellphone store Tuesday in Bolingbrook.

The stickup happened about 5:30 p.m. at Verizon Wireless, 224 N. Weber Road.

Will County Assistant State’s Attorney Courtney Hogan said the three men were wearing masks and two of them were carrying guns and forced the employees into a back room while the other “put a large number of phones into a laundry bag.”

No one was injured. According to
Lt. Anthony Columbus, three armed suspects took phones and other property before splitting up and leaving in
two vehicles – a black Toyota and a
maroon minivan.

Bolingbrook police were able to stop the Toyota a short time later and one man was taken into custody, Columbus said. Charges were pending against him Wednesday morning.

The minivan was later spotted by state police on Interstate 55, but pursuit was terminated as a matter of public safety as the vehicle sped into Cook County, Hogan said. But police later encountered the minivan when it crashed into three cars in Oak Forest.

Officers reportedly found Cortize Shelton, 23, of the 7100 block of South May Street in Chicago, injured in the back seat, while other occupants fled the scene.

“(Shelton) had a loaded Glock (handgun) lying on the seat next to him and there were $100,000 worth of phones recovered from the vehicle,” Hogan said.

Shelton was arrested on charges of armed robbery, unlawful restraint and unlawful use of a weapon, and booked into the Will County jail where he is being held on $1 million bond. According to court records, Shelton is on parole for a 2013 conviction for aggravated discharge of a firearm. He has previously been convicted of aggravated unlawful use of a weapon and residential burglary.

Columbus said Wednesday morning investigators from several departments are working together while “two to three suspects are still at large.”