Chestnut Hill Patch Editor, Boyfriend Robbed at Gunpoint

Two Chestnut Hill residents were robbed at gunpoint as they were walking their dog on Mermaid Lane Tuesday night.

Kaitlyn Foti, who is the Chestnut Hill Patch editor, and her boyfriend, Nicholas Natalicchio, were walking on the unit block of East Mermaid Lane at about 10 p.m. when a man with a hood covering his face approached them from behind.

Natalicchio said he noticed the man was there five to 10 seconds beforehand and figured something was off, since the man had his hands jammed in his pockets and was looking down at the ground.

He pointed a black automatic gun at them almost immediately. Foti and Natalicchio were walking their puppy when the man, who Natalicchio first noticed, directed them to a nearby driveway and proceeded to ask them for their money.

The experience was a harrowing one, according to the two. Foti said she felt her knees go weak.

"Literally, I couldn't stand up when I had the gun pointed at me," she said.

The assailant took turns pointing the gun at the two and at the puppy. He eventually took Foti's wallet (it had no cash) and purse, which included her debit card—he asked her for her PIN number—and prepared to leave before turning back and asking for her phone. (Natalicchio didn't have his phone or wallet on him.)

He doubled back a third time, according to Natalicchio, and asked Foti to repeat her PIN number again. If it was incorrect, Foti said he told them, he would come back and find them.

"This guy was pretty brazen," Natalicchio said. He said he didn't make a very big effort to conceal his appearance.

Natalicchio described the assailant to police as being six feet tall, weighing about 170 pounds and had a dark hoodie covering part of his face, according to Natalicchio. He also said the man was in his 30s or 40s and had scruff—with a bit of gray—covering his face.

After the man left, the two stayed in the driveway for about a minute before walking back onto Mermaid Lane and running into a local resident who allowed them to come inside and use her phone to call the police. The resident had been walking nearby just before the robbery had happened when the assailant had asked her what time it was, according to Foti, and had asked to use her phone.

"Everyone who we saw afterward was really nice to us," Foti said.

The case is now being investigated by the city police department's Northwest Detective Division.