Jesse Andersen, the brother of Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan, says he was robbed by a mob of teens early Thursday in the CTA Red Line subway. (Credit: CBS)
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UPDATED 06/10/11 5:31 a.m.
CHICAGO (CBS) – The brother of Smashing Pumpkins frontman Billy Corgan was attacked Thursday morning on train in the a CTA Red Line subway.
Jesse Andersen, 35, of Evanston, said he was robbed while on his way to work on a Red Line train at the Chicago Avenue stop around 4:30 a.m. Police said five suspects attacked him.
“A black guy with a white shirt and white shorts comes up at me, punches me in the face, so long story short, they end up getting away with my iPod,” Andersen said.
One of the suspects, a female, took the victim’s iPod and when he tried to grab it back from her, he was “blocked” by other suspects and then punched in the mouth, police News Affairs Officer Laura Kubiak said. Cash was also taken from the victim, who was bruised but was not taken to a hospital.
On Thursday, Corgan took to his Twitter account to describe what happened to his brother: “My little brother Jesse was attacked and robbed this morning by 3 men,” he wrote.
Corgan directed his followers to Anderson’s Facebook page to “send him some love.”
Corgan also applauded his brother’s efforts to talk about what happened: “My brother Jesse just finished an interview with a 2nd tv station about being mugged. The bad guys picked the wrong kid to f*** with!”
The suspects are four males and a female, all between the ages of 15 and 25, Kubiak said.
The victim told police he saw the suspects “harassing other people” on the train, according to the officer, who said the suspects fled and were not in custody as of 11 a.m.
It was not immediately known if this incident was connected to any other similar robberies in the same area, including the similar incident on the Brown Line Wednesday near the Chicago Avenue/Franklin Street stop. One victim was hospitalized in that attack, in which a wallet and an iPhone were taken.
At least two other incidents on CTA trains have been reported in the past 24 hours.
Police said two offenders attacked and robbed a woman with her 2-year-old daughter at the Sheridan CTA Red Line stop around 9:15 p.m. Wednesday evening, and pushed the woman and her daughter down a flight of stairs.
Police said the strongarm robbers went through the woman’s diaper bag and looked for money before fleeing. The victim’s injuries were minor.
And close to the scene of the latest incident, two teenage boys were attacked and severely beaten by a mob of 10 to 20 other teens near Chicago and Wabash avenues around 8:20 p.m. Tuesday evening. Many of the suspects in that incident fled to the same Chicago Avenue Red Line stop.
The Sun-Times Media Wire contributed to this report.
