It was near a viaduct underpass where a Chicago woman feared for her life last week, robbed as she was walking home from dinner.
“I was like, 'what’s in his hands? What’s in his hands?'” she said. “Is there a gun? Is there a knife?”
Katie, who asked NBC 5 not to use her last name, says she was walking home from dinner when she was robbed by a masked man. It happened near Racine and Hubbard last Monday around 8:30 p.m.
“He was walking towards me and I kinda sense there was just something off and I tried to move into the street and as I started shifting directions he said 'give me your purse (expletive) give me your cellphone (expletive),'" she said.
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She’s lived in the West Loop for 12 years, and said her sense of security is gone.
“I now have a can of pepper spray in my hand at all times outside, which is kinda unfair,” she said.
She and other residents are calling on Mayor Lori Lightfoot and chicago Ald. Walter Burnett to take action.
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"I think its important to share the story so that other people know that it’s happening and to be aware of their surroundings," she said. "But also to ask our city officials to really take it seriously."
Community activists want city leaders to install 100 police cameras in the district to deter crime and catch criminals.
“We need all hands on deck from the mayor and the alderman,” said Roger Romanelli, who is the executive director of the Fulton Market Association. “We need every tool available to help the police.”
The Fulton Market Association wants the alderman to use TIF money to pay for those cameras.
“We’re sitting on $270 million in Fulton Market in our bank account,” said Romanelli. “These cameras we're only asking for 100 of them at $25,000 a piece that’s $2.5 million against $270 million—put those cameras in right away.”
Romanelli believes the cameras can help understaffed officers conduct surveillance and send a message to criminals.
“We want to say to all the criminals in Chicago that Fulton Market and the near west side is a crime free zone,” he said. “You come here you’re going to get your picture taken, we’re gonna find you, we’re gonna arrest you, we’re gonna prosecute you.”
While Kate wasn’t physically hurt in the robbery, she said the trauma has shaken her to the core. She just hopes this doesn’t happen to anyone else.
“It has made me think about moving out of Chicago and that is an interesting thing for me because I’d thought I’d always be here,” she said.
Katie filed a police report and said the male suspect drove off in a silver sedan. Area Three detectives are still investigating.
