JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – A pregnant woman and her fiance said they were robbed at gunpoint Sunday afternoon, and all the robbers wanted was a pair of sneakers.
The couple was selling a pair of Michael Jordan sneakers and agreed to meet a prospective buyer they met online outside Englewood High School. They told police two teenagers showed up and while examining the $80 pair of sneakers, the transaction turned into a crime.
"When he had them in his hand and he thought that he had a clean getaway, he grabbed them (the shoes)," the fiance said. "When he grabbed them, I grabbed him and the other guy pulled out a gun."
At that point the victim let go and the teens ran off with the shoes.
News4Jax is not identifying the victims because the robbers have not been arrested.
The couple said they met the prospective buyer in a Facebook group called 904 Sneaker Hall. They thought they were being careful by meeting at a public place,, but since they had a bad feeling about the deal, they kept their car running, just in case.
That hunch paid off and the couple drove away quickly. The couple worries about the effect the robbery may have had on their unborn child.
"I could have had a heart attack or lost the baby," the woman said. "I couldn't keep no food down, couldn't keep any liquids down and then they said I was so dehydrated," the fiancee said.
The couple was told by detectives that they aren't the only victims. They said the teenagers are using Facebook groups as a place to plot their crimes.
Because the teens initially contacted the couple on Facebook, the couple has the teens' online identities, which they turned over to police. The woman was able to grab few pictures of their Facebook pages before they were deleted.