Diana Dejacimo was walking her dog in Lincoln Park when a robber rushed out of an SUV, aimed a gun at her, then grabbed her purse and ran down the street, all in a matter of seconds.
“I was dumbfounded,” 70-year-old Dejacimo told the Sun-Times. “It took me a couple of seconds to realize I just got mugged at gunpoint.”
Neither Dejacimo nor her dog Jasper were injured, but the attack Wednesday morning made her appreciate even more her decision recently to move from the city to Wisconsin.
“I love the city of Chicago. It’s a beautiful city, but it’s a disaster right now,” she said. “It is so unsafe for everyone. And if people don’t get out and vote and change, it’s just going to get worse.”
The attack occurred the same day that Chicago police announced the arrest of four men for a series of armed robberies, with Chicago’s top cop saying they are suspected of committing as many as 50 others that have garnered public attention in the last several weeks.
Dejacimo said she had just gotten out of her Jeep Cherokee with her dog in the 1300 block of Webster Avenue around 11:20 a.m. when a gunman approached and demanded her belongings. He pointed the gun at her and her dog before grabbing her purse and running away.
The robber dropped Dejacimo’s purse on the sidewalk and jumped into a dark-colored SUV that sped off, she said.
When Dejacimo retrieved her purse, her phone and wallet were still inside. It was not until after police arrived that she realized that her car, parked on the corner, had been stolen.
Dejacimo said the gunman apparently took her keys from her purse and drove around the block until he found her car.
“This is organized, this is focused,” Dejacimo said. “They were looking for a specific kind of car, and they were waiting for someone to come up.”
Dejacimo said she moved out of the city out of concern about the rise in crime. Her daughter and son-in-law moved to the Lincoln Park area less than two years ago but say they now plan to move.
“They are operating with impunity. They are not afraid to be caught, they are not afraid to be prosecuted, they are not afraid to shoot people, and they are doing it everywhere,” Dejacimo said. “It’s day and night, anytime, and that’s why I am no longer a Chicago resident.”
