Baby’s pacifier knocked from mouth during robbery of mom in Logan Square

With her 5-month-old daughter in her arms and two men with bandanas covering their faces standing across from her in an alley in Logan Square, all a frightened mother could do was scream and run.

The 34-year-old, who asked not to be named, had just parked her car behind her condo in the 3000 block of West Armitage Avenue Friday night at 10 p.m. after dinner with her friends and her husband, who did not accompany her home. She plucked her baby from a carseat and was holding her in one arm when she turned to go in the building’s rear entrance.

“Give me everything you got,” one of the men said.

With her free hand, she fumbled for a moment with the latch of a canister of pepper spray on her keychain. When she realized it was a useless exercise, she screamed and ran.

She made it about 10 paces before being knocked to her knees and pummeled with fists and her own metal water bottle as her attackers tried to rip away a purse that was slung across her body.

“As they were ripping off the purse, the strap got tangled on my daughter’s leg and there was a moment of tug-of-war,” she said.

The bag came free and the men escaped in a black car.

The baby’s pacifier was knocked from her mouth, and she suffered a scratch on her shoulder. The mother was bumped and bruised but also OK. She declined medical treatment.

Police were quickly on the scene. And there was a hope the robbers could quickly be caught by logging into a personal account that would allow detectives to trace the location of the phone in her purse.

“But in the panic I couldn’t think of my password for like two hours and the cops needed it right away,” the mother said, who struggled to comprehend the callousness of the robbery.

“They just had no concern for life. They just pounced,” she said of her attackers, who did not display a weapon.

“I don’t feel scared here normally, and now I do” said the mother, who’s been playing out alternate endings to the attack in her mind for the last 48 hours.

She shared her story with an online group dedicated to Chicago mothers. The tale was met with hundreds of comments of support.

“That feels wonderful,” she said.

Area North detectives are investigating.