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| The crime spree ended in the 1400 block of North Inner Lake Shore Drive around 6 p.m. |
The carjacking of a plainclothes Chicago police officer started a violent crime spree that left two people shot in the Near North and Gold Coast neighborhoods on Thursday afternoon. A suspect is in custody and the conditions of both victims have been stabilized, police said.
According to police and sources, the spree began at 5:30 p.m. when a Jaguar crashed into a Jeep near the 600 block of West Chicago Avenue. A man jumped from the Jaguar and fled the scene. The Jaguar had been taken in a carjacking earlier today in the 12th Police District.
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| Map and sequencing of Thursday’s events. |
Moments later, a police officer who is assigned to the Chicago Office of the Inspector General was carjacked at gunpoint near Jesse White Park in the 600 block of West Chicago Avenue.
The offender abandoned the cop’s vehicle behind Gibson’s Steakhouse in the 1000 block of North State. A driver was shot near Rush and Oak as the offender attempted another carjacking. Eventually, the robber pulled a driver from a Jeep in front of Hugo’s Frog Bar, 1024 North Rush, and sped away.
Moments later, the offender jumped out of the Jeep in the 1400 block of North Inner Lake Shore Drive. He fired a shot into the driver’s side window of a Mercedes that was in traffic, police said. The driver of the Mercedes, described as an elderly man, was either shot or suffered wounds from flying glass, according to police. The victim was alert, talking, and reportedly told police that he did not believe he had been seriously injured.
Cops found the offender in a nearby condo building. A weapon was recovered nearby.
Police said the second carjacking victim had positively identified the suspect as the person who took his car at gunpoint, police said. Additional witnesses also ID’ed the man.
Both shooting victims were taken to Northwestern Memorial Hospital for treatment. Police have not released any information about the victims or their injuries.
