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Female college student fights back against armed robber and yanks magazine from gun — as man watches just feet away

CHICAGO â Three students from the University of Chicago were robbed at gunpoint just minutes apart in the area of the schoolâs Hyde Park campus, according to university police. https://wgntv.com/news/chicagocrime/3-university-of-chicago-students-robbed-at-gunpoint-near-campus-in-hyde-park/ The first incident happened around 2:50 p.m. Wednesday as two students were walking on opposite sides of the street in the 5600 block of South University Avenue. Police said four armed suspects approached the victims, took their belongings and fled in a four-door black Infiniti. Just minutes later, another student was walking off-campus in the 1300 block of East 56th Street when two suspects allegedly approached them with handguns and took their belongings. University police described the vehicle the suspects took off in as a black four-door vehicle, which was last seen going southbound on South Dorchester Avenue. Maddi told WGN News she was one of two students robbed at gunpoint in the incident on South University Avenue. She was walking back from class, taking the same route she typically walks, when she was approached by one of the suspects. âYou never think itâs going to be you. I was walking on South University, which is a major artery of this school, itâs well-populated, it was broad daylight,â Maddi said. The incident was caught on a surveillance camera from a nearby building. Maddi told WGN she did not see the car pull up, but saw a man in a ski mask approach her as she was walking on the sidewalk. She tried to keep walking, but said a confrontation unfolded and he demanded her phone. âHe flashes the gun towards me and I kind of just go blank, I throw the phone behind my hands, we get into this tussle, and he eventually gets the phone from me,â Maddi said. âI was grabbing maybe for my phone, maybe the gun, itâs really a blackout moment for me, and I realize that I was able to grab the magazine out of the gun.â Maddi was able to toss the magazine into a bush. She said she froze for a moment when she registered what happened and immediately ran away. âI couldnât necessarily really register the threat ahead of me, so definitely wouldnât advocate for fighting back. Losing a life over a phone is definitely not worth it,â Maddi said. While she admits she would likely handle the situation differently if she had planned for something like this, she said she is glad the police department has a piece of evidence, which hopefully serves as a lead.

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Wild video shows a female University of Chicago student fighting back against an armed robber, amazingly yanking the magazine out of her attacker’s firearm — as a man sitting feet away watches without helping.

The heroic 21-year-old economics senior, only identified by the first name Madelyn, was one of three students from the university held up at gunpoint just moments apart on Wednesday.

“I see a man in a ski mask coming toward me, and I attempt to keep walking,” Madelyn told NBC Chicago.

Madelyn tussled with the suspect for a few moments as she glanced wildly around her, seemingly imploring a passerby to intervene — with a male student instead just watching while he sat on the ground just feet away, surveillance footage showed.

The armed assailant was “grabbing for my phone and I am kinda pulling it behind my back,” she recalled.

“In the tussle, I was able to take the magazine out of his gun, and I tossed it into a bush,” she added.

“But at the moment, I didn’t know what I was grabbing.”

In the end, the robber made off with Madelyn’s phone, though police later found both the device and the magazine she tossed.

Just five minutes before Madelyn was robbed, two other students walking on opposite sides of the street were confronted by four armed suspects who robbed them before driving away in a black Infiniti, the University of Chicago Police Department said.

The first incident is being investigated by university police, while Madelyn’s case is being handled by the Chicago Police Department, WGN News reported.

There were no injuries in either incident, according to an alert from campus officials.

“I’ve always felt safe, personally. It’s upsetting as students we get these alerts all of the time. They’re very frequent, they vary in the severity of them. It’s just troubling that it becomes so desensitizing,” Madelyn told WGN News.

There were no injuries in either incident, according to an alert from campus officials.

“You never think it will be you and when I was confronted with that moment, I was in utter disbelief,” she added of her experience.

As of Friday morning, no arrests had been made in either case.

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