A group of teenagers forced a woman to have an abortion with a brutal attack after she and her husband dared to stray onto a Chicago street that the youths claimed as their own.
The 41-year-old mother was returning home with her husband after a date night on Friday when they were surrounded by at least 10 young men in the city’s famous Streeterville neighborhood.
The woman, who identified herself only as Nina, said fox32 that they sprayed her with pepper spray in the face, kicked her in the stomach, and lost a lock of her hair while the mob held her husband.
‘They didn’t steal anything. They said, “We own the street, we own the street. You can’t just prance around in your little dress.”
“They were saying things that just didn’t make any sense to me because they don’t know me.”
The woman photographed some of the hair that the gang had torn from her head.
The 41-year-old woman was left with a bald spot and a bruise on her eye after the teenage attack.
It’s been less than two weeks since residents held an emergency town hall to demand action against teenage gangs rioting in a neighborhood where assaults have increased 12 percent in the past year.
“We moved here thinking it would be quieter,” said Streeterville resident Mark Wolfe.
“Now we have what my wife and I call ‘Saturday Night Terrors’ because of the kids that come and just wreak havoc.”
“It all happened behind us,” the latest victim said.
“First someone came up to him and hit him in the head, punched him in the head, and he looked back and looked at me and said ‘run.’
‘Another lady came towards me and dragged me by my hair on the floor.
“I started screaming and she started spraying me with pepper spray in my face, in my eyes.
“Another person started trampling me and my husband ran towards me to save me and more than 10 people held him down.”
“We were just trying to get home to our son, ‘leave us alone, why are you doing this to us?’
Streeterville residents fear they face a summer of misery at the hands of gangs of teenagers who congregate despite a 10 p.m. curfew.
Councilman Brian Hopkins, left, and Chicago Police Capt. David Koenig had faced demands to crack down on gangs at an angry town hall just two weeks earlier.
Nina was two weeks pregnant at the time of Friday’s attack and lost the baby hours later.
“We believe in faith, and it wasn’t meant to be that way,” he said. “So, we don’t know why this happened to us.”
The neighborhood gained notoriety in 2020 when celebrity Jussie Smollett staged a bizarre “racially motivated attack” on himself there, but violent crime has spiked across the Democratic-run city.
Aggravated injuries have increased by 20 percent so far this year compared to the same period in 2021, while robberies have increased by 38 percent and thefts by 77 percent.
Over Memorial Day weekend alone, 41 people were shot and nine died, including a five-year-old girl.
Police who arrived at the scene of Friday’s attack arrested a 14-year-old boy and a 17-year-old girl.
Both have been charged with one count of misdemeanor battery and have been released by police pending an appearance in Cook County Juvenile Court.
“We are asking the state’s attorney to consider upgrading those charges to felony charges resulting in great bodily harm,” said local councilman Brian Hopkins.
“Both victims suffered serious injuries and medical examinations are ongoing.”
There is supposed to be a citywide curfew at 10 p.m. for unaccompanied minors.
Nina’s husband suffered extensive cuts and bruises while trying to defend his wife.
“We’ve never had the problems we currently have in the neighborhood,” said Deborah Gershbein, president of the Streeterville Active Residents Organization.
But city hall residents said they fear the neighborhood is headed for a summer of misery as teenage gangs take over their streets.
‘I’m worried. “I’m an older person and we don’t go out at night anymore,” Barbara Webb told ABC7.
“We’ve never had the problems we currently have in the neighborhood,” said Deborah Gershbein, president of the Streeterville Active Residents Organization.
“Everyone is worried because summer is just beginning.”