2 charged in shoe store robbery in Chatham

Two men face armed-robbery charges after they allegedly held up a shoe store with something made to look like a handgun, authorities said.

Joshua Bradley and Brian Brittnum, both 23 and both of the 8200 block of South Throop Street, were charged late Wednesday.

Surveillance video from Payless Shoe Source, 8552 S. Cottage Grove Ave., shows two robbers enter the store about 8:45 p.m. Tuesday and display something that looks like a gun. It turned out to be a staple gun or wrench covered with duct tape, authorities said.

Police said the video showed a bizarre scene.

"This one kid comes into the store, he realized he forgot to pull the ski mask down so he pulled it down real quick -- so the eye holes were off, causing him to begin stumbling around" before adjusting it, a police source said.

And a customer talked on her cell phone during the entire robbery -- didn't even move -- and walked out after purchasing shoes while still on her cell phone, the source said.

Bradley and Brittnum allegedly took cash from the register, then drove off in a 1990 Honda Accord. A person gave the license plate number to police, who traced it to an address in the 8300 block of South Ingleside Avenue.

Officers found the two men and proceeds from the robbery, the masks and the makeshift weapon at the house on Ingleside. Bradley and Brittnum were arrested about a half an hour after robbing the Payless, police said.

Calumet Area detectives are investigating.