CHICAGO (CBS) -- Only on 2 -- A Chicago veteran, robbed at gunpoint, tries to take matters into his own hands.

But he's now just left bruised and with a lot of questions. He's wondering if he was attacked by the same crew caught on this video targeting a woman a mile away. He spoke with CBS 2's Steven Graves.

Marine Veteran Mauricio Lema sits by this river a lot lately to find peace.

"I've been having problems for a while, but I never asked for help."

He just started treating his mental health after turning 39 in July, and now has a new layer of trauma to tackle, after seemingly being robbed at random.

"There were three of them, three guns, so I had no chance," Lema said. "Being in the military, that triggered a lot of things for me."

It happened Monday outside his home in Avondale at Maplewood and George. A dark sedan pulled up beside him.

"My first instinct was thinking it was Uber or Lyft," Lema said. 

It was 11:30 in the morning, just loading his car with laundry at his car is when he got robbed. He said the turning point, though, was when he got pistol whipped in the face.

"[It] brought so much emotion and anger, I went back and tried to get them," Lema said.

He got in his car, tracking the suspects' vehicle less than a mile away. There's damage when he rear-ended them near Diversey and the Kennedy Expressway.

"I just wanted the car not work so they could just run. I just knew it would happen again," Lema said, who has a GoFundMe site set up to help pay for expenses.

A day before his robbery, this one of a woman near Hamlin Park played out a mile from him. Three masked suspects and one dark car.

Chicago police think they committed twelve robberies over the past few weeks all around the city. Officers have not connected Lema's case to the spree, although Lema sees the similarities.

"I haven't slept for a couple of days. I've been on alert," Lema said. "Mental health is a big thing. And these kids, they're mentally not there."

Crimes committed, leaving lasting, emotional scars. Chicago police do not recommend chasing after suspects. Lema flagged down an officer after the crash, but the suspects still got away.