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EXCLUSIVE: Local Teacher Robbed, Taking Matters In Own Hand

By Matt Rivers

PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – A West Philadelphia woman was robbed at a neighborhood convenience store Monday and she's taking the fight for justice in her own hands.

The robbery happened around 10 p.m. at the store located at 48th Street and Rising Sun Avenue.

Sheena Lee, a special education teacher at a local mastery charter school, says she went in the store to buy ice cream. She then tells CBS3 Eyewitness News a man came up behind her and pressed an item, which she assumed was a gun, into her back. She dropped the $4 that she had, then ran into the street for help.

Lee says no drivers she came across would help her, however:

"I felt abandoned by my community that I came here to help. When I needed them, no one helped."

The suspect then searched her car and stole her credit card. He would spend $1,000 on the card before she realized what happened and canceled it.

She said shell likely move out of the neighborhood she once felt safe in, but isn't giving up. She plans on printing flyers with suspects face and spreading them around neighborhood.

"We need to report things, we need to call 9-1-1," she says. "If we see something we don't have to give our name, just call."

She adds that warning neighbors what happened is the only way to make sure it doesn't happen again.

The suspect remains on the loose. No arrests have been made.

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