Cars, keys stolen at gunpoint from Gold Coast parking lot attendant, and not for first time
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Cars and keys were stolen at gunpoint from a Gold Coast valet parking lot this week, and it was all caught on camera.
As CBS 2's Tara Molina reported Friday, people showed up to the parking lot at Maple Street and LaSalle Boulevard – only to learn their keys had been stolen.
It happened in the middle of the day on Thursday. The Perillo Service Center at 1100 N. Clark St. is located right behind the parking lot, and is helping with holding cars and getting replacement keys.
Surveillance video from the time of the crime does not show the lot attendant being held at gunpoint for keys, but it does show men in the lot checking cars – and eventually taking off in a white Jeep Cherokee and a white Honda Accord.
"They pulled a gun on him and said, 'Give us the car or we're going to shoot you,'" said Cesár Marin, director of the Perillo dealership.
They got at least four other sets of keys too. Car owners showed up to get their cars back, and we are told they were still waiting on replacement keys Friday.
The robbery happened at 2:40 p.m. Thursday. The nearby Perillo Service Center is involved in more ways than one.
"It makes it hard for our employees and some of the other people that rent here, because we have to hide their cars and get them new keys," Marin said.
One of the cars stolen belonged to an employee of the dealership. This was the second time one of their employees has dealt with an incident like in less than two months – in the very same parking lot.
There was a robbery at gunpoint in the parking lot at the end of October that went down just like the one on Thursday. The same parking attendant held up.
"The last time this happened, he was the attendant on duty as well – so it's like back-to-back," Marin said. "What can you tell the poor kid? You know, he's trying to make a living here, and it feels like a war zone."
Marin said at this point, Perillo staffers won't go to the Gold Coast lot alone.
"They walk in groups over to the parking lot, but even then, it's still very uneasy," he said. "Just makes you feel very unsafe. Driving around or parking your car in a parking lot. Something needs to change."
Chicago Police tell us Area Three detectives are investigating. As for theft second theft at the end of October, police said there have been no arrests and the incident is under investigation.
