ATLANTA — A local woman said her 88-year-old neighbor chased off a robber who ambushed him in his own front yard.
The man said he had just returned home and he was checking under his hood for possible car trouble. That's when a man approached him from behind and robbed him.%
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Out her sunroom windows Elizabeth Burns and her assistant had a front row seat for a show they didn't want to see.
"It was kind of shocking to me to see that happening in broad daylight," Burns told Channel 2’s Justin Wilfon.
Their 88-year-old neighbor, who lives just two doors down in the Buckhead neighborhood, was approached from behind and robbed.
"The guy had something in his hand that he was kind of threatening the neighbor with but I couldn't tell from this distance what it was," Burns said.
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"We ran across the yard and I was dialing 911," said witness Tiffany Alexander.%
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The women told Wilfon they saw their elderly neighbor scare the suspect away. The robber then sped off down the street in a car driven by another man.
The victim believes the men had followed him home from a Bank of America branch on Piedmont Road where the victim went to withdraw money.
"To him it was clear they were kind of looking who to take and drive home with and take their money. And he was vulnerable," Alexander said.
The man says he didn't see the men follow him home.
This type of crime, which falls into the Atlanta Police Department’s pedestrian robbery category, is rare in Buckhead.
Wilfon’s search of crime stats found only two people were robbed in September and October of last year and the same number this year.
In this case, the victim walked away unharmed and his neighbors are thankful.
"He's 88 and full of life and a man of faith, and just a really honorable man," Burns said.
Atlanta police told Wilfon they're investigating, but right now can't provide any information on suspects.