Robbery suspect who left his phone number is shot by police
Workers told to call when boss returned
Mechanic Jose Sida (left) was working at the Northwest Side muffler shop where a man attempted a robbery
Tuesday, leaving his phone number and asking employees to call him when their boss returned to open the shop's safe.
(Tribune photo by Abel Uribe / March 25, 2008)
By Dan P. Blake | Tribune reporter
11:01 PM CDT, March 25, 2008
Robbers don't usually leave phone numbers behind, but on Monday, at a Northwest Side muffler shop, a man asked employees to give him a call when
their boss came back to open a safe, an employee said Tuesday.
When the 18-year-old returned a few hours later, plainclothes Chicago police officers shot and wounded him in the leg, police said. Ruben Zarate of the
5100 of West Schubert Avenue was charged Tuesday with attempted armed robbery and aggravated assault of a police officer, the Cook County state's
attorney's office said.
The incident started about 8 a.m., when the masked man, armed with a revolver, came in to Velasquez Mufflers For Less at 2600 N. Laramie Ave. and
began demanding money, said Jose Sida, 37, a mechanic.
Employees told him they had little money and couldn't open the safe, so the man left two phone numbers for them to call when the owner returned with the
combination, Sida said.
"He said, 'You guys better call me because otherwise I'm going to come back to shoot you,'" Sida said.
Instead, an employee called Chicago police.
Officers dressed in plainclothes came to the shop and told employees to call the man, Sida said. The man returned about noon, wearing the same mask
and black clothing and officers told the employees to get to the back of the shop, Sida said.
A police source said the teen pulled a gun from his hooded sweat shirt and at least one officer opened fire. Zarate's injury was not thought to be life-
threatening, the source said.
Mark Payne, a spokesman for the Independent Police Review Authority, said the man was treated at Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center for a
gunshot wound. He said his agency was investigating the police-involved shooting but said that the inquiry would take six months to complete and that he
could not release any details.
Sida said the teen's idea to leave his phone numbers was "stupid," but said employees were just following police instructions to call him back.
Employees now are worried the man's friends may return to get back at the shop employees for calling police.
"We followed police instructions, otherwise he would have come back for sure [to rob us]," Sida said.
Tribune reporter Angela Rozas contributed to this report.
from www.chicagotribune.com
Guess he didn't read "Robbery for Dummies"   
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That is the dumbest guy I have heard of since the story of the bank robber who wrote a holdup note on the back of one of his blank checks with his name, address, and telephone printed on the other side.
Before they left the home they burglarized, they got the computer and checked out their profile on myspace.