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BLUE ISLAND, Ill. – The victim of a violent carjacking in Blue Island is speaking out after his attempt to fight off a pair of suspects was caught on camera.

Rogelio Hurtado was almost done with his shift at Pollo Locaus on Monday when a vehicle pulled up next to him in an alleyway behind the south suburban area restaurant where he works. 

“I was just getting done making some trips,” Hurtado said. “We were doing a thing over by the farmers market that was going to be my final trip.”

At first, he says he wasn’t sure what was going on, but then it quickly became clear.  

“He points his head down and that’s when I see the gun,” Hurtado said.

But Hurtado says he didn’t react the way most people might.  

“Most people would just freeze up and for me that’s just isn’t in me,” he said.

Hurtado says he started to fight back.

“I seen the gun, and instinctively I just pushed it away,” he said. “I even seen his eyes pop. He was surprised by it. And at that point, he was fighting cause he’s like, ‘oh he’s trying to take the gun off me.'”  

A second suspect then jumped out of the vehicle.  

Rogelio Hurtado

“One was enough. With two people, I was like ‘oh great,'” he said.  

But Hurtado says he kept fighting.

“I was in fight mode. I wasn’t only until I started losing consciousness,” he revealed.

The carjackers eventually got the better of Hurtado, making off in his stepfather’s vehicle and robbing him of other belongings as well. The vehicle, a Hondas CRV, has a license plate of CT 85712.

“They took my wallet, and my phone was in the car. Those were the two main things,” he said.

Nubia Chavez owns Pollo Locaus and came racing over after the incident.   

“I’m actually very worried because this business is run by family and I don’t feel safe anymore,” Chavez said.

The carjacking was caught on camera. Chavez says she is thankful but understandably shaken.  

“We don’t see a lot of [carjackings] in Blue Island but its happening now,” she said.

Looking back on the encounter, Hurtado admits he may have done things a bit differently. But instinct, he says, took over.  

“Everyone has been really supportive,” he said. “Everyone thinks I’m some kind of hero, but it was just instinct. That’s what it was. If anything, the heroes are the police out here trying to do their jobs.”