A Marine veteran who was playing Pokémon Go into the wee hours of the morning on Wednesday had to fight for his life after being attacked by an armed robber in a Lakewood, California park.
Local ABC News affiliate KABC reports:
The two victims, 25-year-old Sean and 23-year-old Josh, were wrapping up at about 2:30 a.m. after playing the game for half an hour when a car pulled up alongside them.
ABC7 has agreed to only identify the victims by their first names for safety reasons.
“The car had rolled up with four people in it. One hopped out and told us to give them everything we got. He came up to both of us and tried to throw me on the ground,” Josh recalled.
Sean, a Marine veteran, said the suspect had a gun.
“It was pretty scary, but when something like that happens it’s fight or flight,” Sean said. “I pulled out my knife and I rushed him.”
After a scuffle, the former Marine managed to wound the attacker, then wrestled the gun away. The man fled, but then tried to run the two Pokémon fans over with his car before escaping. The two Pokémon players then called police.
Local Fox affiliate Fox 11 added that the two suffered injuries from being pistol-whipped.
Police across the country have warned Pokémon players to be aware of their surroundings, and to be careful of attempts by criminals to lure them into dangerous situations using the game.
Breitbart News’ Michelle Moons reported Thursday:
Arrmed robbers have also used the game for nefarious purposes. Missouri’s O’Fallon Police Department released a statement on July 10: “Using the geolocation feature of the ‘Pokemon Go’ app the robbers were able to anticipate the location and level of seclusion of unwitting victims.”
In one case, police responded to a call around 2 a.m. for an armed robbery. They tracked down and stopped a BMW with four occupants, as described by a victim. One occupant of the vehicle tried to discard a handgun. An investigation revealed that similar attacks had occurred in neighboring counties in recent days, in which victims described a similar vehicle.
Three of those suspects, at 17 and 18 years old. were charged as adults for Robbery 1st Degree and Armed Criminal Action, and one juvenile was transported to a Juvenile Justice Center.
Joel B. Pollak is Senior Editor-at-Large at Breitbart News. His new book, See No Evil: 19 Hard Truths the Left Can’t Handle, will be published by Regnery on July 25 and is available for pre-order through Amazon. Follow him on Twitter at @joelpollak.
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