CHICAGO — Armed robbers kidnapped a man from in front of his West Side home and forced him to withdraw money from an ATM early Saturday morning. The abduction, one of several robberies reported in the area around the same time, was caught on video.
Footage from a Ring camera showed the man arriving at a home in the 800 block of North Parkside via Uber around 2:22 a.m. on Saturday. As he stepped out of his rideshare, a dark-colored SUV pulled up behind him. Two men armed with pistols jumped out of the SUV and confronted the victim as he tried to enter his front gate.
Both men rifled through the victim’s pockets for valuables. While one gunman returned to the SUV, the other forced the victim to unlock his phone. After the victim and robber spent about 40 seconds fumbling with the phone, apparently trying to withdraw money from the victim’s accounts, the second robber returned and pulled the victim toward the SUV.
The robbers forced the victim into their vehicle and drove out of the surveillance camera’s range. According to the victim, two additional robbers were inside the black Jeep. Watch:
“They didn’t do too much to me because I never tried to fight,” the victim said in a social media post. “I told them I can give the money, but don’t kill me.”
A Chicago police spokesperson said the 39-year-old victim reported the men forced him into the back seat of their SUV and struck him with a firearm while demanding money. They proceeded to drive him to an ATM in the 1800 block of North Cicero and forced him to withdraw cash, the spokesperson said.
After getting the man’s money and other valuables, the robbers drove away, leaving him at the ATM.
“I escaped after I gave them money because they wanted me to go back to the car. They had two guns,” the man wrote. “Thank God I am alive!”
A CPD report said the robbers took about $700, the victim’s iPhone, and his wallet.
Preliminary information indicates that CPD is investigating at least three other robberies involving a similar group of suspects traveling in a stolen black Jeep Grand Cherokee: near Grand and Kostner around 1:45 a.m.; outside a nightclub in the 4100 block of West 26th Street around 2 a.m.; and in the 4800 block of West Congress at about 2:45 a.m.
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