Two men carjacked a driver in the heart of Wicker Park early Sunday, police said. No one was injured and no arrests have been made.
The victim, a 25-year-old man, was sitting in his SUV on the 1500 block of North Damen around 4:35 a.m. when one offender opened his driver’s side door and displayed a handgun, Officer Jessica Rocco said. He ordered the victim out, and the man complied with his orders, according to Rocco.
The offenders got into the man’s gray Jeep Compass and sped away southbound on Damen. Patrol officers saw the stolen car turn westbound on Division moments before the victim flagged them down at the hijacking scene, according to a CPD report. Police did not release a description of the offenders.
Sunday’s carjacking is at least the third to be reported in Wicker Park and Bucktown this week.
At 5 p.m. Wednesday, a group of carjackers pulled in front of a driver at a stop sign and blocked her path in the 2000 block of West Moffat in Bucktown, according to police. Three men got out of the other vehicle, and one of them ordered the 51-year-old woman out of her 2019 Mercedes GLC 350, according to a CPD statement.
The same crew robbed a woman at a Loop gas station before returning to Bucktown to carjack a woman of her Volkswagen the 2000 block of North Damen around 6:45 p.m. Police tracked the stolen VW and arrested three suspects a short time later. One juvenile was charged with vehicular hijacking, and an adult male was charged with possessing a firearm.
According to city records, Chicago logged 214 carjackings in January and another 125 in February, but the hijacking pace slowed in March and April. Still, every month this year has seen significantly more carjackings than the same month in 2020.
There are signs that hijackings may be increasing again. CPD recorded 73 carjackings this month through last Wednesday. If that pace continues, the city will see 119 cases in May. That compares to 98 last month and 96 in May of last year, the city data showed.