Surveillance footage shows the moment neighbors served street justice to a pair of motorcycle-riding muggers in Colombia.
The suspects had just robbed a woman of her purse in the Puente Aranda neighborhood of Bogotá on Thursday morning and were fleeing on a motorcycle.
That’s when a quick-thinking neighbor took matters into his own hands, tossing a hand truck at the motorcycle as it sped by and sending the thieves tumbling from their bike.
Another neighbor also jumped in, kicking one of the suspects as he was sprawled on the street.
A mob of residents then chased after the perpetrators and pummeled them before setting their motorcycle on fire.
Other footage shows one of the suspects lying on the ground and his accomplice in handcuffs as police tended to them.
One unidentified witness told the Colombian news outlet City TV that neighbors sounded the ‘alarm’ as soon as they heard the woman had been robbed.
‘We activated the alarm and we all came out and one neighbor flung the hand truck at the motorcycle and we blocked its path and it fell,’ the man said.
Aquick-thinking neighbor took matters into his own hands, tossing a hand truck at the motorcycle as it sped by in the Puente Aranda neighborhood of Bogotá
A mob of residents chased after the perpetrators and pummeled them before setting their motorcycle on fire
‘The neighborhood residents went after the robbers.’
The suspects were restrained until a Bogotá Metropolitan Police unit arrived.
The witness said that neighbors are still concerned that the suspects or others thieves will return to the area to commit crimes.
‘Unfortunately, you hand these people over to the police and within 24 hours they are free and go out to steal,’ he said.
Government data released in October showed that 99,194 thefts were committed in Bogotá, the nation’s capital, between January and September this year.
In comparison, 120,489 incidents were reported during the same period in 2023 and 93,443 were reported in 2022.
Of the 364,531 robberies that were registered last year in Colombia, 147,666 were committed in Bogotá.
Bogotá Mayor Carlos Galán vowed last month to increase the police budget to ensure security in some of the city’s most vulnerable neighborhoods.
‘We are going to have more investment in security than Bogotá has ever had before,’ he said.
‘We are going to have it. We don’t have it yet. We are just starting.’
