Elderly Chicago woman robbed at gunpoint in Lincoln Park: 'This can't go on'
Woman robbed at gunpoint while walking dog in Lincoln Park speaks out: 'This can't go on'
The victim of a stunning robbery on Chicago's North Side spoke out this morning saying this violence 'can't go on.' The woman was walking her dog Jasper in Lincoln Park near her daughter's home when a man got out of a car, pulled a gun and stole her purse. The thief later threw her purse down with her phone and wallet still inside, just taking her car keys. (Surveillance video courtesy of Dave Hussar)
CHICAGO - An elderly woman was robbed of her purse at gunpoint Wednesday morning on Chicago's North Side.
Diana DeJacimo lives in downtown Chicago. On the morning of the robbery she drove to Lincoln Park to visit her daughter.
Around 11:20 a.m., DeJacimo was on the sidewalk with her dog, Jasper, in the 1300 block of West Webster Avenue when an unknown man got out of a blue Honda CRV, pulled a gun and demanded her belongings, according to police.
DeJacimo told FOX 32 the man demanded she hand over her purse, or he'd shoot the dog.
The suspect then snatched the woman's purse and fled down an alley. DeJacimo says she saw the man with his hand in her bag, and then he threw it to the ground.
She was able to find her phone and wallet. It wasn't until later that she realized her car key was stolen, and she'd been carjacked.
DeJacimo says the suspect must have watched her park her Jeep Cherokee nearby. She called the whole ordeal "a new way of carjacking."
SUBSCRIBE TO FOX 32 CHICAGO ON YOUTUBE
"It's weird feeling fear in your neighborhood," said Mike Walker, the victim's son-in-law.
The incident was captured on surveillance video.
"She's a hilarious lady," Walker said. "She jokes that she got through 70 years of her life without a gun pointed in her face, so she's in good spirits, but she's stunned."
The robbery happened just one block away from where Dakotah Earley nearly lost his life after being shot by another armed robber in early May.
"There have been three acts of violence within a two-block radius, and we have no confidence that perpetrators are being brought to justice," said Walker. "We've talked to a handful of officers nearby in this incident and the previous incident and they sort of shrugged their shoulders and said they couldn't do much. So we've lost faith in the safety of the neighborhood."
It's to the point where Walker and his wife are now strongly considering moving.
"We're devastated. My wife and I bought a house here a little bit over a year ago, and we thought this was going to be our forever home," he said.
DeJacimo has a house in Wisconsin and says she plans to spend more time there because now, she does not feel safe in Chicago.
Nobody was reported in custody.
The investigation is ongoing.