He served time for a CTA hammer attack, now he’s charged with another Red Line robbery

Curtis Tyler, a 34-year-old man with a history of violent crimes on public transportation, was recently arrested in Lakeview after a chance encounter with one of his alleged victims. Tyler gained notoriety in 2021 when he was convicted of attacking a Red Line passenger with a hammer, a crime that police suspected he had committed against other victims as well.

The latest incident occurred on June 27 when a 26-year-old man called 911 to report that Tyler, who had threatened to shoot him on the Red Line a week earlier, was seen near the Belmont CTA station in Lakeview. Police quickly located Tyler outside a Taco Bell and found a gun-shaped cigarette lighter in his possession. The victim positively identified Tyler as the person who had threatened him.

Upon further investigation, it was revealed that Tyler was also a suspect in a 2024 CTA robbery case. In that incident, a 73-year-old man was robbed at the Sox-35th station by Tyler, who allegedly produced a handgun, punched the man, and stole his belongings. Surveillance images of the robbery suspect were released, leading to Tyler’s arrest.

Tyler has a history of violent crimes on public transportation, including a 2021 incident where he attacked a man with a hammer at the Clark-Division Red Line station. He was sentenced to four years in prison for that attack, where he struck the victim in the forehead with a hammer and fled the scene. Prosecutors also alleged that Tyler was performing a sex act during the attack.

In addition to his 2021 conviction, Tyler has a criminal record that includes a nine-year sentence for choking and robbing a victim at a CTA bus stop in 2012. He has also been found guilty of aggravated battery causing great bodily harm in 2014 and has multiple misdemeanor convictions, as well as a juvenile robbery conviction from 2007.

Despite being investigated for at least eleven similar attacks on public transportation, Tyler has only been charged in a few cases. His recent arrest in Lakeview highlights the ongoing issue of violence on public transportation in Chicago and the need for increased safety measures to protect passengers from individuals like Curtis Tyler.