Gunfire erupted in a Lincoln Park residential complex when a man sees thieves trying to steal parts from his car.
It happened in the 2000 block of North Larrabee Street just after 3:30 a.m. Tuesday morning.
The thieves were apparently scared off when the car owner started shooting at them. Neighbors told NBC 5 they were woken up to a lot of yelling and came outside to see what was going on a heard the shots.
This isn’t the first time thieves have stolen parts from cars on that block.
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“It is unfortunate and I hope that measures are going to be taken," said Kaouther Ajrout.
Her 73-year-old neighbor woke up to see someone under his Toyota Prius trying to steal the catalytic converter.
Her neighbor did whatever he could do to protect his property and himself. Thinking the thief had a weapon, he fired several shots. The thief ran off into an awaiting car which crashed into a nearby Volvo in the back alley as they got away.
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“I would not be surprised people tried to steal something," Ajrout added. "We had our converter stolen.”
One year ago, thieves were successful stealing the part from Ajrout’s car, also a Prius. She’s taken extra steps to prevent it from happening again and advises others to do the same.
“We had to invest in an alarm and install some device so it would not be removed anymore.”
Chicago police are investigating and tell us while the man’s catalytic converter was cut, it was not taken from the vehicle. No one is in custody.
