The near-daily reports of vehicular hijackings continue on the North Side.
Police are now investigating an armed carjacking that unfolded Thursday evening less than a block from where a 16-year-old girl was carjacked at gunpoint last Friday. Dozens of similar crimes have been reported in Uptown, Lakeview, Old Town, and Lincoln Park over the past five weeks.
In the latest incident, a carjacker brandished a firearm and pushed a 34-year-old man to the ground after the victim parked his car in the 4400 block of North Greenview around 5:05 p.m. Thursday, said Officer Steve Rusanov, a CPD spokesperson.
The carjacker demanded the man’s keys and then drove away southbound with his red Honda CRV, according to Rusanov. The victim declined medical attention.
Last Friday, a 16-year-old girl was carjacked at gunpoint by a man who walked into her family’s garage and ordered control of her car at gunpoint around 5:15 p.m. Police officers found the vehicle abandoned in an alley behind the 700 block of West Junior Terrace less than 30 minutes later.
Investigators are trying to determine if Thursday’s carjacking is related to another vehicular hijacking reported a little over an hour later in the Grand Boulevard neighborhood.
There, two men displayed handguns from opposite sides of a vehicle while a 44-year-old woman sat in her car near Woodson Elementary School. The men ordered the woman out of her car and drove away westbound on 44th Street, Rusanov said. She was not injured.
Carjacking reports are up 120% in Chicago this year as of October 24, according to CPD records, with 1,018 cases reported. There were 463 carjackings in the same period last year.
On Tuesday evening, an Uber driver was carjacked at gunpoint while waiting for a passenger in Old Town.
CWBChicago has reported on dozens of carjackings on the North Side and downtown over the past few weeks. Among the more recent crimes:
- Two carjackers used a handgun to beat a 42-year-old woman as she sat in her car on the 900 block of West School near Boystown around 6:14 p.m. Monday. After battering the women, the offenders dragged her from behind the wheel and prepared to drive off with her car. But a group of witnesses intervened, and the attackers ran away toward the Belmont Red Line station.
- About 30 minutes later, a food delivery driver was carjacked at gunpoint by two men near the North-Clybourn Red Line station, police said.
- The School Street attack came just minutes after a 24-year-old Boystown resident was robbed at gunpoint by two men in the 800 block of West Cornelia. That robbery did not include a vehicle.
- On November 6, a 16-year-old girl was robbed and carjacked at gunpoint in her family’s garage on the 4400 block of North Ashland around 5:15 p.m.
- Last Wednesday, a 31-year-old woman was standing behind her home in the 2500 block of North Southport when a man walked up and demanded her property at gunpoint around 6 p.m., said Officer Hector Alfaro, a CPD spokesperson. An accomplice instructed the woman to comply, and she surrendered her keys, phone, and other items. The men climbed into her black 2017 Jeep Grand Cherokee and sped down the alley, Alfaro said.
- About 15 minutes later, a 41-year-old woman was backing out of her garage in the 2600 block of North Bosworth when a man jumped out of a black Jeep Grand Cherokee and approached her while displaying a handgun, Alfaro said. The woman and her 9-year-old son got out of their car, and the gunman drove away with their black 2017 Audi A7. The Jeep followed the Audi northbound.
- Also on November 4, a 67-year-old man was robbed at gunpoint inside his garage on the 1500 block of West Montana around 8:57 a.m., according to Officer Anthony Spicuzza, a CPD spokesperson. The offender walked inside the man’s garage, pointed a gun at him, and demanded his valuables, Spicuzza said. After getting the victim’s keys, cash, and phone, the robber ran from the scene.
- Three other carjackings and robberies were reported last week in Lincoln Park — in the 1800 block of North Sedgwick, the 400 block of West Wrightwood, and the 600 block of West Kemper.
Police are investigating all of the carjackings. No arrests have been announced.