LOGAN SQUARE — A 34-year-old Logan Square woman who was attacked during a carjacking last week was hit over the head with a weapon and punched repeatedly to the point where she temporarily lost her sight.
And now she's scared to walk in her neighborhood — even though she lives across the street from the Shakespeare District police station — and is thinking more strongly about leaving the area.
Last Wednesday around 11:30 p.m., Nicole Cisternino was in the process of moving one of her two children's car seats from one of her family's cars to another in her alley in the 2800 block of West Shakespeare Avenue when she noticed a van idling nearby, which gave her pause.
"My first thought was, 'Maybe I shouldn't do this now. Maybe I should wait,'" said Cisternino, who lives with her two children, age 3½ and 16 months, and her husband.
After driving around the block, the driver of the van then parked four garages down and turned off his lights while Cisternino was still in the process of switching the car seat. Though she was becoming increasingly suspicious, Cisternino went to get into the family's second car to finish the chore when a teenage boy emerged from behind her neighbor's gated walkway and attacked her from behind.
The boy took what police believe was a gun and hit Cisternino in her head with it so hard that she lost her sight temporarily.
"I saw a flash of lightning, and then it was black," she said.
Then the boy started repeatedly punching her in her head. Cisternino fought back "kicking and screaming," to which the boy said, "Quit trying to kick back, you white b----," she said. Seconds later, he pried her car keys from her hands and quickly got into her car and drove off, leaving her lying on the concrete.
Cisternino was taken to a couple locations by police to help identify the van and find her car. It wasn't until about 4:30 a.m., after police found her 2010 Lexus SUV, that she was admitted to the hospital, where doctors treated her lacerations, one of them so deep that it exposed her skull. She also had a concussion.
"I looked like a scene out of 'Carrie.' Half of my face was covered in dry blood, all down my neck and chest," she recalled.
Despite this, Cisternino refused medical attention right away, which she said is likely the reason police initially told DNAinfo she was only treated for minor injuries on the scene.
"I feel lucky that this is all I'm walking away with," she said. "I feel lucky that my husband didn't walk out because [the attacker] wouldn't have been afraid to take aim, and that my kids weren't in the car. There's so many ways it could've gone and, thankfully, it didn't."
In the days following the crime, Cisternino is dealing with debilitating headaches from the concussion. She's also afraid to walk around at night in the neighborhood she's called home for 13 years. Last night, just walking from Target to her parked car was enough to make her teeth chatter out of fear.
The night of the crime, police officers with the Shakespeare Police District told Cisternino that crime in the area has "never been this bad" in their careers.
Cisternino is returning to work Tuesday after taking a few days off for recovery. She's worked at the same Lincoln Park salon as a hair stylist for the past eight years.
She and her husband, who works for the Cook County Clerk's office, were talking about moving out of Logan Square to find a single-family home before she was attacked, but she said "it's a bigger discussion now."
Whatever the decision, Cisternino said she plans to become more involved in her neighborhood by attending CAPS meetings and other community events.
"Nobody thinks this will happen to them, but it's important to have a plan in place if it does," she said.
Though police were able to recover Cisternino's car, the district has yet to arrest her attacker. Cisternino didn't see her attacker's face, but noticed he was wearing blue jeans and a black jacket.
