'I got really scared': Couple robbed, kidnapped outside Little Village restaurant they own
CHICAGO - A couple in Chicago’s Little Village neighborhood endured a terrifying ordeal early Thursday morning when they were kidnapped and robbed outside their recently purchased restaurant.
"They grabbed my husband by the neck and put the gun on his head, and I got really scared," said Yesenia, who spoke with FOX 32 but requested not to show her face out of fear for her safety.
The incident occurred around 1 a.m. as the couple arrived at their business on 26th Street.
"I saw three males with guns coming to us," said Yesenia, who opened Los Tamales De La Tia with her husband just five months ago. "And two of them tell us to give them the money."
Surveillance footage from a neighboring shop captured the moment five men, three of them armed, got out of a dark vehicle and attacked the couple. The gunmen forced the pair into their restaurant, where they demanded cash. Unsatisfied with what they found, the assailants began hitting the couple.
"They got upset because it wasn’t enough money, so he started hitting me on my shoulder and my head," she said.
After taking what money was on hand, the gunmen forced the couple into their car, driving them to at least four ATMs around Little Village and demanding maximum cash withdrawals at gunpoint. The suspects also threatened to go to the family’s home and harm their children if more money wasn’t provided.
"They were threatening to kill me all the time. They never removed their guns from our faces," Yesenia recalled. "They kept telling us they would take us to our kids and we would have to give them all the money. They ask who we live with. How old the kids were. I wasn’t going to let them go home."
The attackers eventually let the couple go, leaving them on the street before speeding away.
Alderman Michael Rodriguez, representing the 22nd Ward, called the crime "disgusting" and expressed sympathy for the couple and the community.
"What happened in that video was absolutely terrible," he said. "And I feel for my neighbors and my community members who went through such a traumatic experience. God help them. God help us."
Rodriguez confirmed he has spoken to the 10th District police and the Cook County sheriff, both of which have promised to increase patrols along 26th Street, which is the city’s second-busiest business corridor after Michigan Avenue.
"We are the second biggest commercial corridor. I think we deserve the same amount of attention and same amount of security those corridors receive," said Jennifer Aguilar, who heads the Little Village Chamber of Commerce.
Despite the nightmarish attack, Yesenia said she and her husband wouldn’t be chased out of the neighborhood and would continue to chase their dreams.
"We can go through this. We can go through this and we will. We will keep working, doing what we do. What we like to do," she said.