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The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
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Man Robbed At Gunpoint Near Welles Park: 'It Felt Like An Eternity'

By Patty Wetli | August 17, 2017 11:52am
 A North Center resident was robbed near Oakley and Montrose on his way to work Wednesday morning.
A North Center resident was robbed near Oakley and Montrose on his way to work Wednesday morning.
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NORTH CENTER — A North Center man's morning commute turned harrowing Wednesday when he was robbed at gunpoint near Welles Park.

About 6:15 a.m., Brodie Gordon, 42, was making the short circuit from the front of his Montrose Avenue home to the rear alley where his car was parked, just like he does every weekday.

Gordon noticed a car coming down Oakley Avenue but didn't think anything of it — "It's usually active at that time," he told DNAinfo — and opened his garage.

"I was putting my stuff in the back seat; I didn't realize the car had stopped," Gordon said.

"I looked up and a guy was pointing a gun at my head," he said.

"My thought was, 'Do whatever he says,'" said Gordon. "It's not worth putting up a fight."

Gordon gave up his wallet, backpack and phone to the gunman, who then sped off.

The entire incident lasted all of a minute, but "for me it felt like an eternity," Gordon said.

He tried to memorize the license plate of the white Dodge minivan "without being conspicuous" but could only tell police that the car had a handicapped sticker. The gunman, who was a passenger in the vehicle and never left the car, was wearing a security officer uniform with a badge on it, according to Gordon.

Police confirmed the robbery, reported in the 4300 block of North Oakley Avenue. No one is in custody.

Gordon said his biggest fear was that he had given the robbers his keys, and that, coupled with information in his wallet, they could get into his house, where his wife and two young daughters were still at home.

Later, after police arrived on the scene, Gordon found his keys and his can of LaCroix still sitting on the roof of his car.

His backpack was recovered nearby on Belle Plaine and his phone eventually turned up in Old Town. So what did the gunman wind up with?

"Seven dollars in my wallet. And my hat," Gordon said.

As he left his house Thursday morning for work, Gordon said he told his wife, "I feel like I'm preparing to go to war."

"I certainly think it's kind of shaken my confidence in the neighborhood," he said. "I have an 8-year-old and a 9-year-old daughter. The suburbs or another city are always something you talk about."

Gordon said he wanted to share his story to warn neighbors to be on guard.

"I certainly didn't think anything was going to happen," he said. "I think people should be aware. I would be hyper-vigilant of cars now."