MILWAUKEE -- A series of robberies reported Tuesday night have shaken the residents of Milwaukee’s Riverwest neighborhood.
According to Milwaukee police, an armed robbery was reported around 5:25 p.m. Tuesday in the 800 block of E. Auer Avenue.
Police said four suspects, one of them armed with a handgun, stole wallets, money and phones from two victims there.
David Attias said he and his friend were the two people held up.
“I got on my knees and said, ‘just don’t shoot me,’” Attias said.
He said the four men that robbed him and his friend appeared to be teens, and were wearing red colored scarves over their faces.
Attias said he’s grateful he and his friend weren’t hurt.
“It’s scary,” Attias said. “You don’t know what to do in that situation.”
“For crying out loud, it’s icy out. One of the kids could slip and shoot somebody in the head by accident,” he said.
Police said there was also an attempted robbery in the 700 block of E. Auer Ave., where two people approached one person and tried to rob him/her.
A spokesperson for the Milwaukee Police Department said the suspects ran off on foot after they failed to get any valuables or money.
Milwaukee police also said there was a similar incident reported near Bremen and Burleigh streets where five men, two of them armed with guns, stole money and valuables from two people.
Both of those robberies were called in around 5:30 p.m., Milwaukee police said.
Noele Stollmack said she and her husband witnessed the robbery on Bremen and saw a group of males surround a couple that had been walking down the block.
“It appeared something bad was happening,” she said. “I immediately thought to myself, ‘it looks like these people are going to get mugged.’”
Stollmack said her husband yelled out “Are you OK?” from across the street. She said that prompted the robbers to run away.
“The woman said they’d just been robbed and we should call 911,” Stollmack said.
“The investigations into these incidents are ongoing,” said Milwaukee Police Sgt. Tim Gauerke in an email. “The Milwaukee Police Department continues to seek suspects and determine if the same suspects were involved in all of these incidents.”
