Ever since he was beaten in his backyard 10 days ago, he only comes back to his home once a day to check on it. He is now staying with a friend in another neighborhood. Hudson says at this point, he's too afraid to live in the home he has owned for close to 60 years.
"I've been reluctant. You know, I got to get my courage up again to go back," Hudson said.
Hudson has been the victim of two brutal crimes in two years. On October 2, he was walking from his garage into his locked, fenced-in backyard when he was hit from behind with a large object. Hudson says it knocked him out cold.
"When I woke up, he had took my wallet out of my pocket and I had a gun in my carry-on bag, a small bag, and he took the bag,"Hudson said.
Two years ago, also in October, Hudson came close to losing his life when he was shot in an attempted carjacking in the alley behind his home.
"He stuck a gun in the window and said give it up. My gun was laying on the floor, so I leaned over and grabbed my gun and I didn't shoot, but I pointed it at him and he shot me and ran," Hudson said.
Hudson used to patrol South Side streets and said in the old days criminals never preyed on the elderly in the neighborhood. However today, everyone is fair game. Hudson's son Ronald believes because the focus has been on youth violence lately, the issue of crime against seniors has been pushed aside. Hudson is trying to get his dad to move.
"In his case, he has options where he could leave the community, but there are others that are in the community that are trapped in their homes," Ronald Hudson said.
In both cases, no one has ever been caught, so the Hudson family is offering a $5,000 reward for the arrest and prosecution of the offenders in the case two weeks ago as well as two years ago.
