'He Didn't Rob Me, Watched Me Cry': US Professor Recalls 2021 Train Ambush

A Chicago resident avoids the Blue Line whenever possible and feels his chest tighten when he sees someone walk between train cars. He still gets anxiety attacks from what should have been an ordinary commute in 2021 that turned into a nightmare.

Professor Stephen Kleinschmit of North University recounted the incident on social media, saying he narrowly escaped a life-threatening encounter.

A man dressed entirely in black, face hidden by a mask, walked between train cars, pulled a handgun from his backpack, and pressed it against his head. "It is emotionally scarring for even the strongest person," he wrote on X.

"He didn't rob me, he watched me begin to cry, laughed, then went to the next car," he recalled. "I was almost one of those stories they publish on page 5 of the Tribune, where you go, 'oh that's too bad,' and quickly forget," he added.

The professor admitted that he never reported the incident, saying that he didn't trust the system. "I knew Kim Foxx (former State's Attorney) would never do anything about it. I absolutely do not trust the city's crime statistics. Crimes go unreported, are misclassified in the data, or perhaps even omitted altogether."

He said the memory continues to haunt him. "Today, I avoid the L whenever I can and sometimes have anxiety attacks when someone walks between cars," he added.

This was almost me. In 2021, I was on the @CTA Blue Line when a man dressed in all-black and a shiesty mask walked between the train cars, reached into his backpack, and put a handgun to my head. He didn't rob me, he watched me begin to cry, laughed, then went to the next car. I… pic.twitter.com/zZAvYyeMjF

— Stephen Kleinschmit, Ph.D. (@profstevek) September 7, 2025

Professor Stephen further recalled witnessing other disturbing incidents on the CTA, including a massive gang fight in the Jackson Red Line tunnel where a youth mob beat up and robbed an elderly man, and a mentally ill passenger who forced himself on a woman before bystanders dragged him off the train.

"Almost every Chicagoan I know has stories like this," he said. "Many of my neighbours don't leave their buildings after sundown anymore. They talk about all the things they used to do at night, 15 or 20 years ago."

"The transit system is the primary mechanism for spreading crime throughout the city, yet security is nearly totally absent... Chicago is a low-trust society that does not have the appropriate social norms to self-regulate its behaviour," he added.

Professor Stephen believes that "Chicago will never improve" because security is the precondition for public investment to work, he noted, adding, "Our public expenditures act as a pretext to loot the productive to fund an ever-expanding class of government sinecures and NGO grifters."

He called for a "broad cultural reset" and urged people to demand change before it happens with them or someone they love. "Send in the FBI and National Guard, hire more CPD, do not parole violent offenders, break the gangs. Removing the class of hyperviolent criminals and repeat offenders from society will fuel safety, growth and prosperity the likes which many in the city has never experienced," he added.

His account comes days after the murder of Iryna Zarutska, a Ukrainian refugee, on the Charlotte Area Transit System. She was stabbed multiple times by Decarlos Brown Jr, a man with a long criminal history. He has since been charged with first-degree murder.