Startling video shows the moment a Chicago mother and daughter were attacked at gunpoint and hijacked by two thieves in their own driveway, authorities say.
Michele Pettiford and her 12-year-old daughter were returning from a volleyball event when two unknown men attacked them.
Video shows one of the attackers pushing Pettiford to the ground and demanding her car keys while taking her purse. The other is seen behind her daughter, who entered their home and called the police.
“I thought maybe they were my son’s friends because they had hoods on, looked young and were a little gangly,” Pettiford said.
“And I almost started going towards them, because he wasn’t home at the time, and then they started running towards me with guns.”
Michele Pettiford and her 12-year-old daughter were returning from a volleyball event when two unknown men attacked them
Footage shows the attackers continuing to threaten Michele and rummaging through her bag as she husband, Jeff, walks out the back door.
‘The feeling and the sound; I’ll never forget any of it, but that’ll probably stick around the longest,” Jeff said WBBM.
“She (the daughter) ran upstairs, used her phone and called 911. By the time we got back in, she was on the phone with 911; She gave it to me,” said the distressed father.
At one point, Michele is heard telling the carjackers that the keys were in her purse as they frantically searched for them.
Jeff is then seen trying to de-escalate the situation and points to his car parked in the driveway with the keys in it, but one of the thieves manages to find Michele’s keys and start her car.
The two suspects eventually jumped into her Audi A7 and drove away, leaving the traumatized parents on the ground in their own backyard.
Footage shows the attackers continuing to threaten Michele and rummaging through her purse as her husband, Jeff, walks out the back door
At one point, Michele is heard telling the carjackers that the keys were in her purse as they frantically searched for them.
“I thought I wouldn’t be here anymore,” Michele said, while her husband Jeff said he believes the suspect will hurt and kill others
“I thought I wasn’t going to be here anymore,” Michele told the outlet.
“A carjacking isn’t just someone stealing a car,” Jeff said. “When you see something like that and the trauma it causes for a family, a woman, a daughter… it makes it more real.”
“I’ve watched how they treated my wife and daughter – a 12-year-old – and I know they will hurt and kill people, and now they are doing the same.”
The police have not yet made any arrests in this case and are conducting further investigations.
The latest incident comes two months after a Chicago driver was carjacked by a gang of armed men who locked him between two cars before tying him up at gunpoint.
Surveillance footage shows several men in two vehicles ambush a parked car before kicking out the driver in the crime-ridden city.
The clip shows a 2013 Audi A4 parked on the highway at night with its headlights on.
Two more vehicles approach quickly before coming to a stop at the front and rear of the vehicle, closing in on the vehicle.
The Audi rolls forward in the beginning of an escape attempt, but within seconds three men jump from the surrounding vehicles and approach the driver.
One points a gun at his side window, while two more drag him out of the car and throw him to the ground.
An attacker ties the man’s hands behind his back as he lies face down on the highway while the accomplices enter his car.
The victim watches helplessly as the men drive around him in their vehicles, before all three quickly drive away.
The victim struggles for his life, trying to save it once his attackers are safely out of sight.
As of early November, the Chicago Police Department has reported 25,269 car thefts this year, an increase of 56 percent compared to 2022 and an increase of 193 percent compared to 2021.
This number is expected to increase by the end of the year. Sources close to CPD say the department is putting less emphasis on solving these crimes in favor of devoting more resources to more serious crimes.
Police said they are continuing to investigate the carjacking case that left an entire family traumatized. No arrests have been made and the car has not been recovered.