Bucktown On Edge After Rash Of Carjackings, Attacks This Past Weekend
CHICAGO (CBS) -- The Bucktown community was on edge Monday night, following a violent crime spree this past weekend.
Surveillance video showed carjackers slipping away with a woman's Lexus, and that's not all. As CBS 2's Charlie De Mar reported, some of the carjackings and attacks turned violent, and they have again caught the attention of neighborhood leaders.
On Monday night, residents were asking – where are the police?
"Who hurts an animal and an unarmed woman in an alley?" said Tracey Konicek.
Konicek said a man did just that early Sunday morning while on a quick walk with her dog, Jolly, in the 2100 block of West Churchill Street.
Video from the scene starts with Jolly barking as she hears the man yelling and getting closer.
"Swearing to himself – I thought, just another drunk person, maybe," Konicek said.
But the situation quickly became menacing.
"I'm going to kill your dog! I'm going to get you!' et cetera, et cetera, over and over again," she said.
The duo tried getting away.
"He went up and stomped on my dog," Konicek said. "Stomped her again, and then punched me on right side of my head."
Her attacker ran away without taking anything, but the weekend crime in Bucktown continued Monday morning.
Surveillance video of a carjacking shows two men sneaking down an alley, slipping into a Lexus as the owner threw away trash in 1600 block of North Hermitage Avenue.
"Once again, it appears Bucktown is the target for this kind of criminal behavior," said Bucktown Community Organization President Steve Jensen.
Jensen is continuing to call for a bigger CPD presence in the Near Northwest Side neighborhood, following a weekend that saw at least three armed carjackings and other violent crimes.
"I think it would be a great deterrent to see police and police vehicles constantly orbiting neighborhood," Jensen said.
As for Jolly and Konicek, they are both OK after taking punches and kicks.
"I'm not fearful. I'm emboldened by this," Konicek said. "A person like this does not scare me. He is troubled."
In all of the reported carjackings, there were teams of two men who stole the cars. It is unclear if any of these incidents are linked.
