They believe that the house was specifically targeted but they do not know why. They are speaking out both to try and find the people who did this, but also to get a message out to the perpetrators.
"I was screaming, 'Get down! Stay down! Are you OK?' I'm more worried about her than myself," said Nisha Thornton.
With their smashed out living room windows as a backdrop, Patricia Nelson and Thornton, her daughter, recalled the terrifying moments early Saturday morning when video captured two men, one armed with a bat, the other with an improvised incendiary device, attacking their Chicago Lawn home.
"This is definitely not a robbery. They were trying to hurt us. And we have no idea how or why," Nelson said.
Nelson is receiving hospice care. Diagnosed with pulmonary hypertension, she has spent the entire summer in and out of hospitals. Their only blessing is that incendiary device thrown towards the broken living room windows never made it inside.
"That's the scary part. Because what I didn't realize initially is my mom's oxygen was right here," Thornton said.
But who was behind the attack? Ring video shows the offenders fleeing northbound on Kedzie toward 72nd Street in a dark-colored sedan. With police saying no one is in custody, their fear is they could come back. It is why they are speaking out.
"We're not the people. I don't know who they're looking for. But they're not here. It's just us here," Thornton said.
Nelson is refusing to leave, determined to spend her remaining time at home with her daughter and 8-year-old grandson.
"I've been here 30 years. I'm not going to let them run me out of my house. We've never had an incident in the whole 30 years. Never," Nelson said.
While it is clearly not possible to identify the suspects on the video because of their clothing, the mother and daughter hope red light cameras at the corner of Kedzie and 71st might be able to shed some light on the getaway vehicle.
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