A house painter was carjacked at gunpoint outside his job site near Goose Island on Wednesday morning, according to a CPD report. He was not injured.
The victim told police that an armed man approached him as he sat in his white Chevy Tahoe on the 800 block of North Lessing around 8:45 a.m. He said the offender forced him out of his work truck and drove it away westbound on Chicago Avenue.
According to the victim, the carjacker is a Black male in his late teens or early 20’s who wore all black clothing. The stolen Tahoe has a dealer plate that begins with 702, he said.
Elsewhere in the city, two apparent carjacking attempts failed on Saturday:
- Around 11:30 p.m., two men approached a driver while he sat in his car near Monroe and Wabash in the Loop and pointed a handgun at him. The driver stayed in his car, and the men ran into a nearby alley empty-handed. He said the suspects were two Black males in their teens who stand 5’8” to 5’10” tall. They wore all black clothing and white face masks.
- Earlier, a woman told police that two men brandished guns in an apparent carjacking attempt near the intersection of Clark and Fullerton in Lincoln Park. The men got out of a silver vehicle, pointed guns at her as she sat in traffic, and pulled on her door handles around 6:30 a.m., she said. The carjacking failed, and the woman called police after she got to work.
Chicago police have recorded well over 1,000 vehicular hijackings this year, a 125% increase over 2019, according to CPD data. The Lakeview-based Town Hall Police District and parts of Wicker Park and Bucktown have been particularly hard-hit in recent weeks.