Two Charged After Tourist Stabbed At Oak Street Beach
UPDATED: 12:03 p.m. Oct. 26, 2015
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Two people have been charged in the armed robbery of two tourists near Oak Street Beach this weekend, Chicago police said. One of the tourists was stabbed after fighting back against the attackers.
Police say Noe Mondragon and Luis Salgado-Camargo were two of the three offenders responsible for the knifepoint robbery. Both have been charged with armed robbery and Mondragon has also been charged with aggravated battery/use of a deadly weapon.
Neil McCarthy and his girlfriend Carisa Lerner were robbed Saturday night, on their first day visiting Chicago from Minneapolis.
They were hoping for a relaxing weekend, but on the way to their hotel, three men surrounded them and demanded their belongings at knifepoint.
McCarthy said he gave the muggers his iPhone and his wallet, but when they accosted his girlfriend, he fought them, and ended up stabbed in the shoulder.
"When I got him in a headlock, when he was kind of in front of me, the back of his neck's kind of on my chest now, my arm is around his neck kind of thing; I guess he reaches back with his knife and stabs me in the back of the shoulder," he said.
McCarthy also suffered cuts to his hand as he wrestled the knife away.
"I believe I could have walked away if it was just me, having lost my phone, having lost my wallet, not got stabbed, and have had some harmed pride; but if your girlfriend gets attacked or manhandled, and you don't do anything, I don't think I could live with myself if that happened," he said.
After police and an ambulance arrived, Lerner used the Find My iPhone app to ping McCarthy's iPhone, and McCarthy followed the sound, and saw one of their attackers. He said he gave chase, got the man in a headlock, and dragged him back to police.
In light of everything that happened, McCarthy said he still loves the city and the people, and plans on returning for another visit.
