Two parolees are in custody, charged with pulling off an armed carjacking in the West Loop over the weekend. One of them was released from prison on another armed carjacking charge last Wednesday. The other is on parole for his fourth stolen motor vehicle case.
Around 7:30 p.m. on Sunday, two carjackers pulled out a handgun and demanded a 24-year-old man’s valuables and vehicle on the 300 block of North Loomis, police said.
Officers assigned to the city’s newly-reconstituted carjacking task force traced the victim’s stolen phone to the Austin neighborhood where cops saw two men getting into the carjacked vehicle around 11:30 p.m., according to a CPD spokesperson.
The men crashed the victim’s car and ran from the scene, but both were tracked down and arrested. A revolver was also recovered by police.
Prosecutors charged 31-year-old Brandon Walton with felony aggravated vehicular hijacking with a handgun; being a felon in possession of a handgun, and felony aggravated fleeing.
Tyvonne Brown, 26, is charged with felony aggravated vehicular hijacking with a firearm.
A judge denied bail for both men on Tuesday.
Incredibly, Brown was released from prison last week after serving half of a 13-year sentence that he received for a 2012 carjacking in south suburban Harvey, according to court records.
And Walton was released from prison on Aug. 22 after he served half of a six-year sentence for his fourth stolen motor vehicle conviction.
According to court records, Walton was arrested by Illinois State Police in May 2016 after a trooper caught him speeding down the Kennedy Expressway in a stolen orange taxi cab.
Walton previously received three concurrent eight-year sentences for possessing a stolen motor vehicle, possessing a handgun in a motor vehicle, and impersonating police in 2012. He also received three-year sentences for possessing stolen motor vehicles in 2008 and 2007.
A Chicago police spokesperson said federal charges may be sought against Brown and Walton.