Good Samaritan helps arrest Gold Coast armed robbery suspect

CHICAGO (WLS) -- Two suspects in an armed robbery of an elderly couple in Chicago's Gold Coast neighborhood were arrested Tuesday afternoon, one with the help of a Good Samaritan, police said.

Police say the couple were held up shortly after 10 a.m. on the street in the 0-100 block of East Delaware. The victims - a couple aged 69 and 70 - provided the police with a detailed description of the two men, who police say were then tracked down and arrested.

For Humberto Maldonado, it took just a fleeting glimpse of one suspect's bright yellow shirt to know something was up.

"I was walking out of the parking lot across the street and I saw a guy running and one cop chasing him," Maldonado says.

Seeing a man running through the Gold Coast away from cops, and women running from him, was a red flag for Maldonado.

"As soon as he came back towards me I just crossed the street and tackled him," he says.

"He told him to get on the ground and he didn't get on the ground, so he picked him up and threw him into the bushes," says Jim Klotz, witness.

"I grab him by the waist. I somehow picked him up, threw him to the ground, turned him around and put one of my legs on his head and grabbed his hands until the cop showed up maybe five, six seconds later," Maldonado says.

"I didn't really know what was happening. I thought it was just two guys having an argument until police showed up and drew their guns," says Klotz.

Police had been chasing the man in the yellow shirt a few blocks from where they say he pulled a gun on a couple and snatched the woman's purse. He ditched the purse trying to elude officers. Somehow, in the sprint down Bellvue, police say the gun skidded across the sidewalk around the time Maldonado stepped in and stopped the crime spree.

Maldonado was unaware that the man he'd stopped had a gun only moments before, which scared him once he found out.

"I mean, my life was in danger even without me knowing," he says.

Police say they have two suspects in custody for the armed robberies, but have not yet formally charged them. Police also say they were able to recover all the stolen property.