Police said a woman managed to escape from three would-be carjackers who tried to rob her in a Lakeview strip mall parking lot Saturday evening. It’s at least the third carjacking (or attempted carjacking) in the area since Thursday night.
The victim told police that three teenagers approached her and pretended to be selling something in the parking lot at 2928 North Ashland around 5:05 p.m. They then got into her car and tried to take it.
But the woman escaped with the vehicle’s key and sought help from inside the nearby Office Depot, according to a report. She was not injured.
One of the offenders is a Hispanic male with short hair who’s around 16-years-old, 5’4” tall, and 120 pounds. He wore a white sweatshirt and a white face mask. Another is a Black male with short hair who’s about 17-years-old. He’s 5’8”, about 120 pounds, and wore a black hoodie, white t-shirt, and dark-colored baseball cap. They fled in a gray car with a third male, the victim said.
Two other carjackings
At least two other carjackings have been reported in the area over the past three days.
- Two women were carjacked as they sat in a car on the 1900 block of West Nelson around 11:30 p.m. Thursday. The victims said a man walked up to the driver’s side of their car and said he was lost before he pulled out a handgun and forced them from the vehicle. He was with another man, police said.
- Three young males battered a driver, threatened him with a knife, and tried to take his Lexus near the intersection of Altgeld and Lincoln around 9:45 p.m. Friday, according to a CPD report. Police arrested three suspects a short time later and charges are pending.
Avondale carjacking alert
A little further away, two armed carjackings in the Avondale neighborhood prompted Area Five detectives to issue a community alert this week. Both of those crimes were reported on Thursday, July 30
First, two men approached a man who was sitting in a car in his garage on the 2700 block of North Spaulding at 11:35 p.m. One of the carjackers knocked on the victim’s vehicle, and the man ran away when he realized what was happening.
Police said the robbers were two Black men between 18- and 25-years-old. One is 6-feet tall and 250 pounds with a fade hairstyle. The other is about 5’7” tall and 150 pounds, police said.
In the second case, two men forced victims out of a vehicle at gunpoint and robbed them of their personal belongings on the 2900 block of North Spaulding at 11:54 p.m., according to the alert. The offenders then got into the victims’ car and drove away.
Police described those offenders as:
- a Black male, 20- to 26-years-old, 5’10 to 5’11” tall, 170-180 pounds, short black hair
- a Black male, 21- to 27-years-old, 5’8” tall, 200 pounds, short black hair
Anyone with information about the Avondale carjackings can contact Area Five detectives at 312-746-7394 regarding crime pattern P20-5-031.