By Jean Lotus

Forest Park Review Editor

Oak Park police have arrested four men in connection with the July 14 robbery of a man held at gunpoint in his back yard in the 200 block of Clinton.

On Tuesday afternoon, a patrol officer observed a car travelling eastbound on Washington Boulevard similar to the getaway vehicle used by the robbers. The officer curbed the car in the 300 block of North Austin Boulevard and recognized two men in the vehicle who fit descriptions of the offenders in the backyard armed robbery.

Two other men, believed to be involved, were already in custody in Cook County Jail for unrelated incidents, Oak Park police said in a statement.

Oak Park police said the names of the four individuals cannot be released until charges are filed by the Cook County State's Attorney's office.

At the time of the robbery, the vehicle was captured in a surveillance video and analyzed by the FBI's Regional Computer Forensics Laboratory, police said.

Chief Rick Tanksley said the lab was able to take details from the video and generate the make, model and color of the vehicle used in the crime.

"The victim and video gave us good descriptions of the suspects, the lab gave us a strong lead on the vehicle and an alert officer used his training, instinct and good information to make the traffic stop," Tanksley said in a statement.

The victim was robbed around 4:30 p.m. July 14 in his back yard as he exited his home. One offender held him at gunpoint with his family inside the house only a few feet away, while accomplices used his ATM card at the 7-Eleven, 661 South Blvd. and Tasty Dog, 708 Lake St. Oak Park police released video images from a surveillance camera of two to three suspects using the ATM machine at 7-Eleven.

Tanksley referred to the robbery as "brazen" in a statement and said the department worked hard to solve the crime.

"These types of incidents are rare, but when they do occur, we want the community to know that the Oak Park Police Department will utilize every resource available to ensure that those responsible are apprehended and held accountable," he said.