A resident on Chicago’s Near West Side shared a terrifying ordeal after being held at gunpoint while walking his two dogs in his own neighborhood.
It happened in the overnight hours along West Rice Street near North Oakley Boulevard.
Austin Keep said he noticed a suspicious vehicle running in an alley in Ukrainian Village.
“I started moving quickly away from it. They hopped out of their car. One of them had a gun pointed at me,” he said.
The 35-year-old had just taken his dogs out and was walking back with his pets when he was confronted by two masked robbers around midnight.
“They demanded my phone and wallet, which I said, Yes, just don’t shoot, don’t shoot, trying to calm them,'" he said. “It was really cold that night. These were kids, so I wanted to make sure they didn’t do anything rash or stupid.”
Keep believes the robbers were teenagers and said one of them had a gun with a laser on it.
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“I just tried to end it as quickly as possible,” he said. “I asked that they, obviously, just said, 'Whatever you do, please don’t shoot.' He kinda switched up his tactic and said, 'I’m not going to shoot, but I’ll punch you.'"
Keep said the thieves initially wanted his keys. He turned over his cell phone and wallet.
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They demanded the passcode to his phone before taking off in a white sedan. Keep told NBC Chicago he recognized the vehicle and believe it may have been involved in a crime reported from the weekend before.
“I gave them what they wanted to an extent,” he said. “It was just sorta a shock and awe type thing. I kinda just went blank and had to figure it out.”
Police later recovered his phone, he said. The robbers ended up using his credit card and placing a food order online.
“It was something stupid, $150 bucks in deliveries, and I guess that’s worth them doing all that effort, and I just don’t understand that, I guess,” he said. “It’s just stupid on their part.”
Keep is warning his neighbors to be vigilant, saying he’s now being extra cautious at night.
“It was pretty scary,” he said. “I just hope that no one else has to fall victim to it or no more people fall victim to it and that hopefully they get brought to justice soon.”
The incident was captured on a neighbor’s doorbell camera. As of Saturday, police were still investigating to see if the incident was connected to any other robberies reported in the area.
