Father and four children robbed at gunpoint at park, police say

ATLANTA — A local father and his four children told Channel 2 Action News they were robbed at gunpoint at a southeast Atlanta park.

It happened at Benteen Park while the father was playing on the playground with his children.

Channel 2's Nefertiti Jaquez spoke to Jose Rodriguez on Wednesday. He was still shaken up. In Spanish, he described the moment he was robbed.

“I was playing with my daughter when I felt someone walking up behind me," he said.

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The victim said the suspect walked up as he was playing with his 6-year-old daughter, and pointed a gun at his chest and told him that he would kill him if he didn’t hand over everything.

"Then he said, give me everything you’ve got or I’ll shoot you. So I pushed my little girl behind me, to block her," he said.

In the police report Jaquez obtained, it also shows Rodriguez begged the gunman in what little English he knows to have a heart by saying, "Just don't hurt my girl." 

What's worse, his three sons, ages 13, 11 and 9, were playing soccer at the field right nearby as this all unfolded.

Rodriguez said when his boys heard the commotion, they ran over to see what was going on.

“I screamed to my boys to call the police because they had my cellphone. But that’s when he pointed the gun at my 9-year-old son and threatened him," he said.

The victim said he rushed to give the suspect the $300 in cash in his wallet. Seconds later, the suspect was gone, leaving behind a flurry of fear for a family who was simply trying to have fun.

Cox Media Group