Several people robbed at Chicago bus stop
CHICAGO (CBS) -- There were more robberies to report in Chicago Wednesday afternoon – this time on the city's South Side.
As CBS 2's Sabrina Franza reported, among the victims were a group of people targeted while waiting for the bus at 79th Street and Jeffery Boulevard, on the cusp of South Chicago and South Shore. CBS 2 spoke with one of the victims at the bus stop.
"They were prepared," said Joshua Wright, 24. "They hopped out, guns ready, 'Empty out your pockets!' Got back in the car, drove away."
Wright was in the wrong place at the wrong time early Wednesday morning.
"You really don't know what type of situation you're in. It was kind of life-threatening for me, getting a gun put in my face by someone younger than me actually, man," he said. "They looked like they were just 14, 16 – kids."
Wright and a few others were at the bus stop when three people got out of a car and pointed guns at them – demanding that they empty their pockets and hang over their phones.
He complied, as did the others at the bus stop.
"It could happen to anybody, honestly, you know? At the moment, I was thinking to myself, 'It would never happen to me, because I'm a conscious person,'" he said, "but I got got."
Wright was trying to make his way to work at the time, and his Ventra card was on his phone. So by the time the bus came, he didn't have a phone to use to pay the fare to get on the bus because the robbers had taken it.
As a result, he also lost a day's work. So did at least some of the other victims.
"They were all ready to go to work and everything prepared - the uniform – and they took everything they had," Wright said. "People couldn't go into work today because they got their phones taken, because they had their Ventra cards on there."
Minutes later, there was another robbery at 79th Street and Cottage Grove Avenue. The crime matched the same description, and the offenders fled.
This time, they got a woman walking on the sidewalk.
"Quick two minutes, in and out," Wright said.
In further addition, there was a robbery at 82nd and State streets in Chatham. The victim, a 50-year-old man, told police he tried to fight the men who were robbing him, but was then hit in the face with a gun.
Back at 79th and Jeffery, Wright went home to track his phone, which he was able to ping using his Apple watch. He found it lying on the ground not far from where it was taken – along with his backpack.
His iPhone was left cracked and damaged.
"It was lying on the ground face down. I guess they couldn't find a use for it," Wright said. "Man, they really messed my phone up."
But Wright was glad he was able to track his phone successfully.
"I went home and hit the tracking device on it. It said, 'Phone being tracked,'" he said. "They probably got rid of the phone when it started getting tracked."
He said he was one of the lucky ones.
"I don't care what nobody says," Wright said. "In the words of Ice Cube, today was a good day."
Police told us they are investigating two of these cases, and they have not made any arrests in either.