Park Ridge police are investigating after a 7-Eleven convenience store was recently robbed and a clerk believed to be sprayed with mace, in an incident where cigarettes and alcohol were reported stolen.

According to a police news release, officers responded at around 8 p.m. on Aug. 5 to 7-Eleven at 814 Higgins Road on alert of a hold-up alarm. While enroute to the scene, officers received information that a robbery had occurred.

Upon arriving, officers met with a store employee who explained that two people had entered the convenience store – which is also a gas station – and “proceeded to walk around the counter where they sprayed the clerk with a chemical agent, believed to be mace,” according to the release.

The two offenders then reportedly stole several cartons of cigarettes and bottles of liquor then fled from the store on foot. The release explains that they were last seen heading south on nearby Cumberland Avenue.

The store employee was transported to a local hospital for non-life-threatening injuries, authorities said.

A police description of the alleged thieves states that they were two men “dressed as females.” One of them was wearing a black shirt and gray pants, and the other had on a tan shirt and black pants. Both of them had bandanas on their heads.

This particular 7-Eleven location has been held up at least two other times in the last year. Police responded to the store in April and October of 2024 on calls of armed robbery.

Detectives are reviewing surveillance video footage from inside the store in this latest incident. Anyone with additional information is asked to call the Park Ridge Police Department at 847-318-5252

https://www.chicagotribune.com/2025/08/14/park-ridge-7-eleven-armed-robbery/