Carjackers who dragged a woman from her SUV in Lincoln Park on Tuesday evening ran from the stolen vehicle after crashing into at least two other cars in Uptown minutes later. The driver of another car involved in the crash was seriously injured, according to initial information.
Tuesday’s hijacking was reported in the same general area where another carjacking and at least three robberies have been reported since Sunday.
Just after 7 p.m. Tuesday, three men pulled up next to a 53-year-old woman as she sat in her parked car on the 2500 block of North Seminary, CPD spokesperson Sally Bown aid.
The offenders got out of their vehicle, opened the woman’s driver’s door, and dragged her from the SUV. They then threw her to the ground, and she struck her head on the pavement, Bown said.
Two carjackers got into the woman’s Nissan Rogue and sped away northbound. The third offender followed them in the vehicle they all arrived in, according to Bown.
Cops located the stolen car a few minutes later as it traveled northbound on Sheffield near Belmont. A police supervisor ordered the patrol unit to terminate their pursuit of the carjacked SUV near Addison and Southport.
Moments later, the stolen SUV slammed into two other cars at the intersection of Montrose and Clark. The two occupants of the stolen car ran away northbound, according to witnesses. Officers who responded to the scene said they found one of the other drivers trapped and unconscious in his car. An ambulance transported him to Advocate Illinois Masonic Medical Center.
The carjackers were described as three Black males in their late teens or early 20’s. Two of them wore black jackets.
On Monday, a group of three or four similarly-described offenders committed three robberies, including another carjacking, in Lakeview and Lincoln Park. In each case, the robbers pulled up next to victims who were sitting in or getting out of vehicles, according to witnesses and CPD.
At 8:20 p.m. Monday, a group of carjackers in a dark SUV pulled up next to a 28-year-old man as he got out of his Honda CR-V on the 1700 block of West Wrightwood, according to Bown. One robber pointed a handgun at him while the others took his belongings, then they drove away with his Honda CR-V.
Police found the carjacked Honda in traffic near Fullerton and Ashland a few minutes later. Officers began pursuing the car, but police supervisors ordered them to terminate the chase under CPD policy.
Earlier, three men robbed a woman as she sat in her car under the “L” tracks near Sheffield and Oakdale around 7:10 p.m. The woman, age 22, told police that the three robbers pulled up next to her in a dark SUV, grabbed her, and began taking property from her and from inside her car. She was not injured.
Around 6:30 p.m., several witnesses reported seeing a victim fighting with three men during an apparent robbery near Grace and Fremont streets in Lakeview. The apparent victim got back into their car and drove away before police arrived.
Witnesses to the Lakeview robbery provided police with a license plate from a dark-colored SUV that the suspects used. The plate is associated with a stolen Buick crossover.
On Sunday, two men robbed a woman at gunpoint outside her home on the 700 block of West Wrightwood in Lincoln Park around 7:30 p.m. The offenders put a firearm to the woman’s head and took her valuables before running northbound on Orchard Street, she said.
In Sunday’s incident, the victim said the robbers were two Black males who stand about 5’8” tall. One wore a gray hoodie, and the other wore a jumpsuit or tracksuit with an orange stripe.
Area Three detectives are investigating.