By Bob Bong
The man charged with shooting a Bedford Park police officer in November has been indicted for two gas station robberies in October in Oak Lawn and Worth.
Oak Lawn police last week said Raul Perez, 24, of Blue Island, was indicted by a Cook County Grand Jury on December 18 for the robberies on October 18.
Perez, who is being held on attempted murder charges of a peace officer in the Bedford Park shooting on November 26, was indicted for armed robbery, armed robbery with a firearm, armed habitual offender, attempted aggravated vehicular hijacking, felon in possession of a firearm, and aggravated unlawful use of firearm.
On the morning of Oct. 18, Oak Lawn police officers responded to a robbery at the BP gas station near 110th Street and Pulaski Road. The vehicle owner was inside the gas station when he saw a man, later identified as Perez, inside his vehicle, police said. When the vehicle owner confronted Perez, police said he pointed a plastic bag at the owner implying there was a gun in the bag.
Oak Lawn police said Perez drove off in a silver Honda CRV, that had been reported stolen in a carjacking and was later found burned by Chicago police.
Moments before the Oak Lawn robbery, a man matching Perez’s description robbed a vehicle owner at a gas station in Worth, taking the vehicle owner’s wallet, cell phone and other personal items. The suspect is said to have fled in a silver Honda CRV.
Worth and Chicago police provided resources that led to the identity of Perez as the suspect in the gas station robberies, Division Chief Gerald Vetter, of the Oak Lawn Police Department, said in a news release.
Perez was arrested in the early morning hours of November 26, after the shooting of a Bedford Park police officer at a gas station at Roberts Road and Archer Avenue. Bedford Park officers were investigating an abandoned vehicle with heavy damage that had been stolen in a Chicago carjacking.
The officer was shot multiple times when he and other officers tried to stop Perez and another man from allegedly fleeing from the gas station.
According to Illinois Department of Corrections records, Perez was released on parole in July where he had been serving concurrent sentences stemming from convictions in 2020 for possession of a firearm by a felon.