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Good Samaritan conned by armed robbers in Lincoln Park

Posted at 5:53 PM, Feb 19, 2018
and last updated 2018-02-19 17:53:12-05

A Lincoln Park man, hoping to help a man who had fallen down in the street, ended up being hit in the head and robbed at gunpoint.

It happened around 5:30 Saturday morning near the intersection of Washington and Lincoln in Lincoln Park. 

7 Action News talked to the victim's son who says his dad was on his way to work when he got out of his car to help a man who had fallen down. But before his dad could completely exit his vehicle, another man came up behind him, robbed him at gunpoint, and used the gun to strike him on the head before both men ran off.

This comes just days after a would-be robber conned his way into the home of an 82-year-old Marine in Ypsilanti Township.  

Dean, the victim in that case who did not want to use his last name, says he opened his door to the stranger because the man said he needed to use his phone to call an ambulance for his wife and their phone was dead. 

But, once inside, the man demanded money from Dean and assaulted him when he told him he didn't have any money. 

In another case, around 9:00 p.m. Sunday night in Wyandotte, police say a 16-year-old used the bold approach and a gun to rob a customer inside the Marathon Gas station on Eureka near 3rd Street.

Police say the fast-acting clerk dived into the office and immediately called 911.

"The officers did an outstanding job," said Wyandotte Police Deputy Chief Archie Hamilton. "They found them four blocks away, hiding in a garage."

Hamilton says the teenage suspect who armed himself with a very real looking pellet gun and his 17-year-old alleged accomplice are both facing felonies. 

Hamilton adds that the robbery could have had an unfortunate ending for the teens if any of the victims had been armed CPL holders. 

Click on the video to see surveillance video from the Wyandotte case.