EDGEWATER — The 59-year-old owner of an Edgewater hair salon was punched by a robber who stuck up the salon while customers were inside getting their hair done.
The man — wearing a trench coat, black hat and a green scarf — walked into Lisseth Unisex salon at 6049 N. Ridge Ave. at 5 p.m. on Feb. 16.
The owner, Ingrid Carranza, was inside with several regular customers when the man came in with his hat pulled down low.
“He told us he had a gun and this is a robbery,” Carranza said. “I’m really scared. I can’t believe this happened to me. The first time I have that kind of experience.”
The man stalked around the store demanding cash, Carranza said. One customer was getting her hair shampooed, she said, and another woman was in the shop with her son as the man paced around. At one point, the robber froze and didn't seem sure how to handle the situation, Carranza said.
“Where’s the money?! Where’s the money?!” he demanded, according to Carranza, who said there was very little cash in the register.
He began threatening to shoot somebody if he could not get money, she said. That's when he found Carranza’s purse and wallet, which had about $360 cash inside, she said.
“I told him, you shouldn’t rob me because I work hard for my money,” said Carranza, who said she began to suspect the man did not have a weapon.
She was staring at his eyes, trying to remember what she could of his face when he walked up and punched her, knocking her to the ground, she said.
After hitting Carranza, the robber ran away, police said.
Believing the robber had lied about the weapon, one of the customers chased and caught him near a fence behind the salon. The two struggled until the robber broke free and ran back around front, entering the residential section of the same building, according to a Chicago Police report of the incident.
When officers arrived, a man said he had chased the man to the stairwell but lost him there.
Officers later searched the building but did not find the man. They did recover a woman’s empty wallet, which had been tossed behind the building.
The robber's description is similar to that of a man who robbed a West Ridge dry cleaner the day before, although police have not linked the two robberies.
In that case, a man in a trench coat went into the dry cleaners at 6122 N. Ravenswood Ave. and demanded, “Give me more money, or I will shoot the kids,” police were told.
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