CHESTNUT HILL -
"It's startling." Those words from a 21-year-old resident of Chestnut Hill who says it was a night he won't soon forget. He was on his way home from work along Highland Avenue Sunday when he and a female friend were approached from behind by three men.
"Before I knew it, someone had come around behind me and stuck a taser on the back of my neck," the victim told FOX 29's Dave Schratwieser.
"It put me down pretty quick."
The man, who asked us not to use his name, is the latest victim of robbers armed with a taser. In this case, the victim was stunned twice with the taser gun.
"They tased me again, pull my head up so I could see my friend on the ground being held down, they robbed her," he said.
Philadelphia police now say there have been three recent taser robberies in recent weeks in the Chestnut Hill area, including a waitress who works at the Osaka restaurant right downtown.
The same night, a woman returning home to her apartment in nearby Abington was also tased and robbed.
"I guess robbers just have a new way of robbing people, tasing, wow, that's sad," one resident of the Abington apartment complex said.
"I can't believe they're that brutal to people," said Mary Moorhouse of Chestnut Hill.
Neighbors in Chestnut Hill met earlier this week with police to discuss the attacks and security.
"People always felt pretty safe walking around Chestnut Hill and I don't think they're feeling as safe anymore," Moorhouse added.
"It's kind of surprising, you don't expect it here, but crime can happen anywhere," added Derrick Warnick of Chestnut Hill.
The victim of the latest taser robbery says the suspects are violent and left no doubt they were dangerous.
"They said like, 'if you don't, if you say anything, we will kill you,'" the victim said.
Police made an arrest in one of the taser robberies two weeks ago. They are trying to determine if the same suspects are responsible for the two taser robberies in Chestnut Hill and the one in Abington.
Neighbors tell FOX 29 they will keep more lights on outside their homes and watch their neighborhood more closely for strangers.
A 21-year-old man says he was tased along Highland Avenue Sunday in Chestnut Hill.
