Family’s sense of security is gone after father is shot during carjacking attempt

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    CHICAGO, Ill (WBBM) — Recently, a family’s sense of security was horrifically violated, as a mother and daughter screamed and pleaded with carjackers in a Bucktown alley – and the father was shot while trying to help.

The family shared the story of those terrifying minutes exclusively with CBS 2’s Jermont Terry on Wednesday.

All within a matter of seconds early a week ago Tuesday, a stolen red Audi pulled up in Bucktown and a gunman jumped out. Tina Ariola and her daughter found a gun pointed right at them.

“I was trying to stay very calm,” Tina Ariola said. “I was very angry, but I was going to comply.”

In surveillance video, you can hear Tina’s daughter tell her mom to follow the gunman’s demands.

The gunman took their cellphones, wallet, and car keys. But it is something the robber said in the alley behind the Ariolas’ house that left Tina feeling more uneasy.

“They said, ‘Turn around and get down on the ground!’” she said. “And that was what made me hesitant saying, you know, I don’t know that I want to go out like this.”

The driver of the Audi was seen standing outside, waiting for his buddy to get the Porsche. The Audi had been stolen at gunpoint hours earlier from a woman in the 1400 block of West Wolfram Street in Lakeview.

The thief reverses, thinking the carjacking is a done deal. But those earlier screams forced Dave Ariola, Tina’s husband, to come running out to the alley.

“I was literally sitting on the couch in my underwear and T-shirt,” Dave Ariola said. “I never made it over the fence. I was inside the yard.”

The robber turned around and shot Dave Ariola instantly.

Terry: “It has to eerie for you to stand here, because it’s where you were shot. But it’s also where you so much concern for your family – your wife and your daughter – in that moment.”

Dave Ariola: “All I can think about, especially as it gets further away, is how inconsolable I’d be if something happened to them.”

“He’s our hero,” Tina Ariola said.

The bullet entered Dave Ariola’s wrist and exited his elbow.

“Luckily, it went parallel to bone,” he said. “So didn’t shatter the bone. It just broke it.”

But it did shatter the family’s sense of security, along with others in Near Northwest Side neighborhoods.

“Our neighborhood is under siege here,” Tina Ariola said. “Our community is under attack.”

This attack is part of a troubling trend this year. There have been more than 1,100 carjackings across Chicago, and that number is growing.

“It’s not just about, hey I’m out here having a good time grabbing a cellphone,” Dave Ariola said. “You know, people could die. I’m so fortunate that I’m not dead or no one in my family is dead.”

After shooting Dave, the crooks left everything behind – including the car. The Chicago Police were still searching for the criminal duo as of Wednesday night.

But the family said they fear the carjackers don’t believe they’ll be punished if caught – and that is driving up this spike in such crimes.

People across the city are asked to stay alert, especially when parking.

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