A woman and a teenager each reported being attacked in separate incidents earlier this month in Midlothian, according to police.
A woman told police that a teenager hit her in the face with an object that felt like a handgun on Aug. 7 when she was approaching the stairs to her apartment building in the 14500 block of Pulaski Road.
The woman said four teenagers were sitting on stairs when she got home about 11:30 p.m., and one of the boys demanded her car keys. She began screaming loudly and the boy struck her in the face.
Police said the woman was bleeding from the mouth and suffered swelling on her cheek but that nothing was taken from her. The four boys ran northbound in the alley toward 145th Street after the incident.
Also, a 17-year-old Midlothian boy said he was jumped by five or six men while he was walking in the 14600 block of Lamon Avenue at 4 p.m. Aug. 5.
The boy said the men approached in a white, newer model GMC or Cadillac SUV with no front license plate. The car stopped, and the men surrounded him.
A man described as 20 to 23 years old with facial hair approached him and demanded money. Another man who the boy believed was about 18 then began rifling through his pockets. The boy said he elbowed that man in the face or throat, but he then was tackled by a third man, who kicked him in the face and body after he fell to the ground.
The boy said all three attackers were wearing white T-shirts. Nothing was taken from the boy.
Kate McCann is a freelance reporter for the Daily Southtown.