Two men were charged Monday after they allegedly robbed a couple visiting Chicago and stabbed one of them during the incident near Oak Street Beach over the weekend.
Noe Mondragon, 22, and Luis Salgado-Camargo, 18, were each charged with felony counts of armed robbery, and Mondragon received an additional felony charge of aggravated battery and use of a deadly weapon, according to Chicago Police.
Mondragon and Salgado-Camargo are two of three suspects in the Saturday night robbery near Oak Street Beach that left 27-year-old Neil McCarthy with a stab wound, police said.
Visiting Chicago for the first time, McCarthy and his girlfriend, 26-year-old Carisa Lerner, were walking back to their hotel in the 1100 block of North Lake Shore Drive around 11:45 p.m. when they were cornered by a group of men. A struggle ensued, and McCarthy's wallet and passport were taken, he said.
"We went for pizza and then we went for a walk, thinking let's walk off some of the calories we just ate. Let's go for a walk. It ended up being a complete nightmare," Lerner said.
When the robbers went through Lerner's pockets and "roughed her up," McCarthy tried to pull them off. That's when one of them pulled out a knife, put him him a headlock and stabbed him in the back of his shoulder.
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McCarthy fought back and got the knife away, but the robbers took off.
Once they called police, McCarthy, who is a member of the British Royal Air Force, helped capture one of the robbers using the "Find My iPhone" app.
McCarthy was taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital, where his condition stabilized. Lerner was not injured.
The couple planned to leave Chicago Monday, but they said the incident did not scare them away forever. They said they wanted to share their story, however, to warn other tourists visiting Chicago to be more careful.
Information on attorneys for Mondragon and Salgado-Camargo was not immediately available.
