The owner of a cell phone store on Chicago’s North Side is recovering after a brazen robbery turned violent in an attack caught on video.
Surveillance cameras were rolling when a man wearing a hooded sweatshirt walked into the store in the 7100 block of N. Clark St. just before 9:30 a.m. Monday morning.
Police aren’t sure if the suspect was armed, but that didn’t stop him from seriously injuring the store owner, beating him repeatedly and even slamming his head into the counter.
The situation escalated quickly, and the man can be seen battering the owner as the violent confrontation escalated. Eventually the offender jumped over the counter and stole cell phones from a display case before fleeing the store, hitting a customer on the way out.
Jose Julio Lujan was supposed to be working in his father’s Rogers Park store Monday morning, but he was running late – so his father took his place.
“I’m overwhelmed definitely. It’s been a very long day. It’s really sad,” Lujan said. His father suffered lacerations to the face and the store was forced to close for the day after the assault.
“To see your father get hit by another man much bigger than him, to see injustice and to feel that it really takes a toll on you,” he added.
Local
The family had multiple surveillance cameras in the store that captured the robbery, and they released the video in hopes that someone may recognize the attacker and help police crack the case.
“I hope they catch him—I really do because justice needs to be served,” Lujan said.
The family is still taking inventory to determine how much was taken, and they said they suspected the same man was in the store last week, acting suspicious and leaving before buying anything.
No one is in custody in connection with the incident and police continue to investigate.
