Street vendor targeted by armed robbers on Northwest Side, Chicago police say: VIDEO
CHICAGO (WLS) -- Surveillance video shows armed men trying to rob a street vendor selling food after she was ambushed in broad daylight.
The attack was one of two crimes involving street vendors. Both took place just a minute apart, just before 9 a.m. Friday on the city's Northwest Side, Chicago police said.
People in the neighborhood were on edge after the shocking crime. the video is difficult to watch as it shows armed men attack a woman selling tamales.
"Very surprising to me," resident Steve Lukic said. "Such a nice lady. She's out there every day. Even when it was zero degrees out, she's out there selling her tamales. I can't imagine something like that happening to her."
The robbery happened near Milwaukee and Pulaski.
Security video shows the woman sitting alone at her food stand when a dark-colored SUV pulled up in the parking lot behind her.
Four men exited the vehicle. Chicago police said. two of them had guns.
The thieve can be seen rifling through the woman's pockets.
Investigators said when they couldn't find any money or valuable to steal from her, they ran back to their getaway, but not before one of the gunmen fired a shot.
"I got up and went by the door," resident Cedious Thomas said. '" didn't go outside. I went by the door and I seen all the police and fire trucks."
Shortly after the men speed off, the shaken street vendor can be seen screaming for help before collapsing to the ground.
Chicago police have not said if the same group is connected to a similar armed robbery where another street vendor was held up. It happened around the same time just two miles away.
Investigators said a 19-year-old man was robbed at gunpoint near Kimball and Armitage, Logan Square, after several armed men got out of a vehicle and took his property.
Police said no one is in custody and no arrests have been made.
No injuries were reported in either armed robbery.
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