A witness and a suspect exchanged gunfire on Tuesday morning in River Grove after a postal worker was the target of an armed robbery, officials said.
River Grove police confirm they were called to the 8700 block of Richard Street around 9:30 a.m. where they discovered the mail carrier had been approached by an armed man who demanded his keys.
The letter carrier complied and was not injured, but before the suspects fled, a neighbor who witnessed the incident pulled his own handgun. River Grove police say "words and gunshots were exchanged."
According to police, "the male suspect ran back to the vehicle that dropped him off, and the vehicle fled north on River Road."
Two sisters who live nearby tell NBC Chicago that their mom took in the postal worker after the robbery.
"My mom let the mailman inside our house to see if he was okay, because she talks to him regularly. He always comes around here," said the older of the two sisters, who didn't want to be identified on camera.
"He was just very distressed, very scared. You could tell he was very nervous from what had just happened," said the second sister.
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"We kind of just kept him inside until the police got there and were ready to talk to him."
The girls say it's a quiet neighborhood, and initially they thought the sound of gunshots might be fireworks.
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"I heard like a bang, bang, and bang, bang, bang, bang, then my mom screams, 'tell me those weren’t gunshots,'" said the older sister.
River Grove Police are working with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service (USPIS) on the investigation. A spokesperson for the USPIS says there are possibly up to four suspects involved.
Anyone with information or video should call the agency's 24/7 hotline at (877) 876-2455.
