Two teenagers, one of whom is awaiting trial for illegally possessing a handgun, have been charged in connection with Friday’s attack and carjacking of a 71-year-old man on the Northwest Side, police said.
Yet, neither juvenile is charged with vehicular hijacking and only one is charged with a felony.
The boys, ages 16 and 14, were identified as the offenders who approached the senior citizen from behind, punched him in the face and threw him to the ground as he stepped out of his car on the 5900 block of North Sauganash around 6:55 p.m., according to police.
They took the man’s car keys and drove away with his 2010 Toyota Camry.
Officers tried to pull the car over around 11:36 a.m. Saturday on 6300 block of South Morgan because it was being driven on a flat tire, according to a police statement. The teens bailed out of the car while it was still moving and ran. Both boys were arrested after foot chases.
Prosecutors charged the 16-year-old with one misdemeanor count of criminal trespass to a vehicle. The 14-year-old is charged with felony possession of a stolen motor vehicle and misdemeanor leaving the scene. A police spokesperson did not say which of the teens is awaiting trial for handgun possession.
Juvenile justice was a key talking point when CPD Dep. Supt. Anthony Riccio met with reporters to announce the reformation of a multi-agency carjacking task force on Friday.
“The criminal justice system has to get serious about how they deal with some of these juveniles,” Riccio said. “A lot of what we see are the same crews doing it over and over again. So, we’re gonna have to definitely address the problem of juveniles and the crime that they’re committing.”
He said 117 vehicular hijackings had been reported in 2020 as of earlier this week, up from 67 during the same time in 2019. The city saw 113 carjackings during the period in 2018 and 109 in 2017, according to city records.