FYI -------- Original Message -------- Subject: Fwd: armed robbery on 4700 Warrington, near Abbraccio Rest Date: Tue, 18 Nov 2008 17:00:15 -0500
Dear neighbors, friends, family; J**** and I were walking home from dinner at Abbraccio this eve., near the garden gate on the north side of Warrington St, when we were suddenly confronted by two teenage males, each w/ a small handgun in his right hand. The first one jumped directly in front of me w/ the gun aimed at my chest, while the other one had approached Jean from behind, w/ the gun touching her head. Jean immediately turned around, and pleaded, "please do not shoot"! He ordered her not to yell, or he would shoot. Meanwhile, I was still trying to gather my senses, when Jean said to me "do you see what's happening here"? The one youth was on my right, w/ his gun aimed at Jean, now a few steps in front of me to the right side, and I looked straight ahead to the other young man directly into his eyes and said, "tell me what you want"! He said, "I want your wallet". Meanwhile, Jean had taken off her coat, threw it on the sidewalk, and told them to take her coat. I told him I did not have a wallet (which was true), so he lowered the gun towards my legs and said "you must have something on you". Jean called out to me - "give him your coat", so I took off my leather jacket and threw it on the sidewalk beside hers. Immediately a driver approached, and called out to us, and I waved to him as though hailing a taxi. The two young men grabbed my coat, and dashed off towards the south corner of 48th St. The driver (an employee from Dalak Rest.) called 911, we described the incident, and they told us to go home and meet the police there. The driver had noticed another 2 young men on watch at the corner of 48th, who were then joined by the 2 who had confronted us, as the 4 ran further west on Warrington. The police came quickly, took us w/ them, and by the time we approached a lighted outdoor recreation field near 52nd St, many cruisers had converged on two young men trying to scale the fence. They caught them, and shortly thereafter, caught a 3rd one. It was a very sad experience as we identified them, surrounded by many police, w/ bright lights shining in their frightened faces. We then went to the station for complete debriefing, signing independent reports, and viewing one of the handguns, which turned out to be an authentic-looking, metal BB handgun. The other weapon had not yet been recovered. While at the police station, we met another man who had also just been held-up at gunpoint by one of the same young men who confronted me. Jean and that man both positively identified him at the same time when the police escorted him into the station. That incident occured further west, and a bit earlier than ours. We are deeply grateful to God for his protection, shocked by how quickly this transpired, and so saddened for these young men in trouble. Pls. pray for renewed hope and healing in our neighborhoods, and beyond. With grateful hearts, **** ---- You are receiving this because you are subscribed to the list named "UnivCity." To unsubscribe or for archive information, see <http://www.purple.com/list.html>.
