Cops catch armed robber with help from good samaritan

Chicago police say the quick thinking of a Good Samaritan led to the arrest of a convicted felon who held up a Humboldt Park shoe store at gunpoint Thursday.

After hearing the cries of distressed Payless Shoes store employees, police say the Good Samaritan saw 29-year-old Eleizer Degaldo and an accomplice flee the 4000 West North Avenue store with money taken during the robbery.

The Samaritan ran after Degaldo, watching as the robber took refuge in a nearby Laundromat, police said. He then alerted police to Degaldo's location and officers were able to make an arrest. Police are still searching for the accomplice.

Degaldo "obviously is a dangerous individual with a handgun," said police News Affairs Officer John Mirabelli, adding that the robbery was "clearly" not Degaldo's "first rodeo."

"Due to the bravery of the citizen, he led police to the location and they got (Degaldo) off the street," Mirabelli said.

Minutes earlier at about 6:30 p.m. Degaldo and his accomplice walked into the shoe store and demanded money at gunpoint, police said.

After taking several items from employees and gathering a small amount of cash from the register, Degaldo is alleged to have forced store employees into a back room, demanding that they open a safe, according to police.

"When they realized the main safe couldn't be opened in a timely manner, they fled out the door," Mirabelli said.

Degaldo, who lives nearby in the 1400 block of North Monticello Avenue, was charged with two felony counts of armed robbery and one felony count for possession of a firearm by a felon.

None of the store employees were injured during the robbery, which police continue to investigate.