HUMBOLDT PARK — A man who chased off an attacker while wearing his socks and aided in the capture of an alleged rapist said that he thinks the attention being put on him is "a little overblown."
"Eighty percent of people, if they heard screams in their building, would try to run and help as well. The big thing is that I'm glad they got him and hopefully he will do some time and change things in his life for better," said Devin Bermudez, an IT project manager who lives in East Humboldt Park with his wife and two young children.
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On Monday night around 8 p.m., while putting his two kids to bed, Bermudez said that his wife heard trouble downstairs.
"I was in the back brushing the kids teeth and getting them ready for bed. First, she thought it was arguing and she said 'Devin come up here, see what's going on,'" he said.
The attack was taking place in a common stairwell of the family's condo building in the 2600 block of West Chicago Avenue.
"I kind of just stepped out to the hallway to see, obviously something was happening. I thought arguing and then heard louder screams, like a terror type of scream. I closed the door, pushed the wife and kids back in and started shouting.
I saw [the attacker] and shouted to try to get him to take off, but initially he didn't stop. He only stopped when I got closer and ran off."
Ledarius Johnson, 18, was able to smother, choke and grope the 47-year-old victim — who is visiting Chicago from Ukraine — before Bermudez chased Johnson down the street, police and prosecutors said. Johnson had followed the woman off the No. 66 Chicago bus and concerned riders called 911, according to police.
Bermudez, who describes himself as more of a distance runner ("sprinting is not my forte") chased the man.
"He took off a couple blocks west down Chicago Avenue and he went into the alleyway on Fairfield and reached into his pocket and said 'I've got a gun,'" when he was between a garage and a fence.
"Then, I kind of backed off. I saw police and I flagged them down and one went to the back of the property and then another to the front. I knew [police] would be around and they deserve credit."
Bermudez estimated that it was close to 10 minutes until the police came, where he "was back and forth" chasing the attacker.
"There was a little bit of time when he was hopping fences."
Though there was a threat of a gun, Bermudez said he never saw a gun.
Bermudez said that prior to the incident, he already knew his downstairs neighbors who were hosting their cousin visiting from Ukraine.
"She was profusely thankful. She does not speak much English but was very embracing and warming and gave me lots of hugs. She had me take a picture to send to her husband in the Ukraine," Bermudez said.
Bermudez decided to come forward after an upstairs neighbor, Vanessa Felice, showed him a screenshot of comments from neighbors expressing an outpouring of thanks on the Ukrainian Village Neighborhood Watch page, which has over 5,500 members.
"My neighbor was telling me how many comments there were and lots of just general love. I joined [the page]. I thought why not say hello and thank you to everybody."
As a joke and because some folks had described him as a Batman-like neighbor superhero, Bermudez posted a photo of the page wearing one of his son's masks to introduce himself.
Since introducing himself on the Facebook page, Bermudez said he's been the recipient of "a strong outpouring of drink and food [offers]."
When asked how his wife reacted to the dramatic event, he said, "My wife, she is proud of me, but initially she was scared with the kids and calling 911 and was alone [while I was away]. But when all is said and done she is happy and things worked out."
The couple moved to the neighborhood in 2014.
"It's definitely a growing neighborhood, generally it is a positive vibe and friendly vibe. We know the neighbors."
Felice was not at home during the attack but came home from work just as the police brought the alleged attacker to the front of the building so the victim could identify him.
"The police shined a flashlight on the guy, he just stood there, was silent with handcuffs on. Her English is not great, but it was good enough to point him out," Felice said.
Felice, coincidentally, had been talking with her boyfriend about crime in Chicago on the phone as she was driving home from work that night.
"He was saying, 'Vanessa it's so unsafe,' and I was saying, 'I'm leaving my life in Chicago to join you,'" she said.
On April 10, Felice is moving to Austin, Tex., where her boyfriend moved last month from Chicago.
Just in the past few months, Felice said the tires were stolen off her car and the windows her boyfriend's car windows were shot out while it was parked along Chicago Avenue.
The attempted assault has the neighborhood talking.
Ben Ruiz, 32, who works at Bar Marta in Humboldt Park a few blocks from the scene said he isn't concerned as most of the crime takes place before he gets off work around 2 am.
His girlfriend, on the other hand, is.
"My girlfriend is more worried than I am," Ruiz said. "It's not good."
"I think the people committing these crimes aren't from the area," he said, noting the neighborhood has been gentrifying over the past five or so years.
Ruiz said his girlfriend doesn't take public transportation because of crime and primarily takes cabs.
Ruiz, who lives in Ukranian Village, said he moved to Chicago 8 years ago and has noticed an uptick in crime on the news recently.
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