South Loop Neighborhood On Edge After Brutal Attack
CHICAGO (CBS) – A South Loop neighborhood was on alert Thursday, a day after a man sexually assaulted a resident outside her home.
Kim Clark lives just feet away from a 56-year-old woman whom police say was sexually assaulted at gunpoint Wednesday night.
The victim was parked in front of her home in the 1400 block of South Clark street in the Dearborn Park neighborhood. About 6:30 p.m., a man flashed a handgun and ordered her to open her car door.
He then took her keys, went into the house and pointed a gun at the woman's husband demanding cash.
"We were shocked. This is an amazing family. I mean, this is an amazing family that are an anchor of the community," Clark tells CBS 2's Pamela Jones.
Clark says it's a great neighborhood, but crime is surfacing too often.
His house was robbed two months ago.
"They broke in the second floor, took thousands of dollars' worth of equipment, broke out the front door," he said. "It can't be isolated."
"All of the police protection and police power is going down into the high-crime areas. The bad guys know that," another neighbor, Patrick McAloon, says.
Area residents say the incident has shaken them into thinking about their own personal safety.
For Sheldon Parker, it meant a new warning for his wife.
"I heard the garage door open, and then I don't hear anything else. She's in the car talking on her cell phone. I said, 'When you come in the garage, you close it down,'" Parker said.
Police are warning neighbors not to leave their garage door openers in their cars when parking outside the garage. A thief could steal one and easily use it to break in.
