Man stabbed while trying to stop shoplifter in River North Walgreens

CHICAGO (CBS)-- A 51-year-old man is in critical condition after he was repeatedly stabbed by a shoplifter Sunday night inside the Walgreens store in River North.

CBS 2's Tara Molina has tracked increasing theft, and violent theft, in the area for years now.

Walgreens won't share surveillance of the man police are still looking for, or say if a security guard was present when this happened, but we do know the victim was a customer trying to stop the shoplifter that stabbed him.

Just after 10:30 p.m. Sunday, a man, who tried to step in to stop a shoplifter was stabbed multiple times at the Walgreens at 641 N. Clark St.

Chicago Police said a man was taking items off shelves and concealing them, when the victim – a customer in the store – "made a verbal attempt to intervene." That's when the shoplifter "became irate and produced a sharp object in which he used to stab the victim," stabbing him in the legs and cutting his face and neck.

The victim was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital in critical condition.

With the store back open today, management directed us to their media relations team, who confirmed the victim wasn't a store employee. Walgreens wouldn't provide surveillance images of the man police are looking for.

No was in custody Monday afternoon. Area Three detectives are investigating.

Meantime, there has been a 120% rise in retail theft in the River North neighborhood since this time last year; from 85 incidents at this point in 2021 to 187 so far this year.

We are still waiting on a public records request that would show how often these thefts have turned violent.

This isn't the first time someone trying to stop a shoplifter has gotten hurt. Just in the past few months, thieves pepper sprayed a security guard at the Hermes store in December.

Earlier that month, a 16-year-old girl used a stun gun on a security guard at the Nike store on the Magnificent Mile, and in November two customers were shoved and hit when a group ransacked the Burberry store on the Mag Mile.

A couple months ago, Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul announced a task force to crack down on retail thefts. In response to the recent incidents, the office said that task force "is committed to working with our law enforcement and retail partners to disrupt the criminal enterprises that engage in organized retail theft and use it as a means of fueling other criminal activities."

"There are active investigations pending and the Task Force will pursue additional leads as it receives them.  We will provide updates as they are available without compromising the integrity of any specific investigation," Raoul's office added.