Armed ticket robbers: Dangerous crooks could be among crowd of 'Paradiso' music festival
WANTED IN SEATTLE -- A college student's plans for a fun party weekend at the gorge took a dangerous turn Monday night when he was confronted by an armed robber. What happened to him serves as a good warning to everyone to beware who you meet when you sell something on Craigslist. "everything happened so quickly i didn't know how to react," Chung said. Chung had three extra tickets to the Paradiso music festival at the Gorge and decided to sell them on Craigslist. He told the buyer to meet him outside Hotel Deca in Seattle. Surveillance video shows them driving by in a silver or gray Jeep Grand Cherokee and then turning around to park. " waving at me in the car telling me just to come here," he said. Inside the vehicle were four black men. "They were trying to make me give them the tickets, saying 'hey, give me the tickets i want to see if they are real,'" Chung said. "The victim notices that one of the occupants in the vehicle actually has a gun hid between his legs," said Ret. Det. Myrle Carner. "So this guy immediately steps out of the car just pointing the gun at me , 'hey, give me the tickets, don't f*** around ... just give me the tickets and give me everything you have,'" Chung said. They even took his iPhone. Video shows the armed robber pushing Chung around. His gun was a sliver pistol. "As soon as i gave him what i had, i just turned and ran," Chung said. After the robbery, the men drove off and detectives believe they headed to Everett. Investigators are hoping someone will recognize the Grand Cherokee and can identify who drives it. "This activity took place at midnight," said Carner. "You really shouldn't be meeting anybody at midnight -- specifically in an area where's there's not a lot of people around." Chung knows he should have been more careful about meeting strangers off Craigslist. ((sot)) "Meet at the right time and the right place -- definitely during the day where it's public and there's a lot of people walking around and people can see you," Chung said. The suspect's Jeep is a silver or gray Grand Cherokee. Detectives think the suspect is black, in his mid 20's, 6-foot-2, with a slim build and braided hair.
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