Update January 14 — Prosecutors charged the alleged killer of Shuai Guan as an adult. Details are available here.
Chicago police on Wednesday announced charges in three different carjacking cases, including one that left the victim dead of a gunshot wound. The average age of the accused hijackers is 15 years.
“While accountability is important, the arrest of [a] 13-year-old is heartbreaking,” Chicago Police Supt. David Brown tweeted after the department announced one of the arrests. “We all must work together to save our children. They need to know they don’t have to resort to a life of crime.”
In the most high-profile case, a 16-year-old was charged with first-degree murder, murder while committing another forcible felony, and aggravated vehicular hijacking in connection with the shooting death of Shuai Guan during a carjacking in Bridgeport on December 21.
Guan, a 33-year-old father with one son, gave the carjacker the keys to his SUV, but the offender shot him dead after becoming frustrated because he couldn’t get the vehicle into drive, police said last month.
The teen was arrested Wednesday on the 1100 block of South Hamilton, which is where the Cook County Juvenile Court Center is located.
CPD also announced another 16-year-old was arrested Tuesday after being identified as one of the carjackers who took a car at gunpoint in the 2300 block of South Canal on December 1. He is charged with aggravated vehicular hijacking with a firearm.
The 13-year-old, charged with aggravated vehicular hijacking with a firearm and criminal trespass to a vehicle, was arrested Tuesday while driving a car that was reported stolen in an armed carjacking in Jefferson Park on January 7, police said.
“Too often, I see juvenile offenders charged with serious crimes like carjackings,” Brown said in a second tweet Wednesday. “They need to be held accountable, but we should all be connecting with our young people to prevent this from happening in the first place. We have to inspire them to find their purpose in the world.”
No further information is available about the three teens because they are juveniles.