Armed carjackers struck at least three more times on Wednesday evening and early Thursday, according to Chicago police. Hijackings were reported in the West Loop, Avondale, and River North.
Around 8:30 Wednesday night, a man parked his Hyundai Sonata and ran into an Avondale store while his uncle sat in the car on the 2800 block of West Fletcher, a police report said. Two men then approached the car and robbed the uncle at gunpoint, the report said. They then ordered the man out of the car and drove away with it.
The car crashed about a block west on Fletcher, and the offenders ran from the scene. They were described as a skinny Black male between 25- and 30-years-old who stands about 6-feet tall and a heavyset Hispanic man who’s about 5’8″ tall. Both men reportedly wore black clothes and masks.
Next, a 29-year-old man was carjacked near the Magnificent Mile by four men who all displayed handguns on the 500 block of North Rush. Police said the victim was sitting in his parked 2020 Range Rover when the offenders ordered him out of the SUV at gunpoint and drove away with it around 1:44 a.m. Police said the hijackers are four Black males in their early 20’s.
Less than 30 minutes later, a 42-year-old man was carjacked while he sat in his 2016 Dodge Durango on the 1100 block of West Van Buren in the West Loop. The victim said three men, each armed with a handgun, climbed out of a black SUV and ordered him from his vehicle at gunpoint around 2:11 a.m.
All three hijackers fled onto the inbound Eisenhower Expressway in the man’s Durango. It was trailed by the car they arrived in, which may be a Kia Soul, according to police. The carjackers are four Black males who wore all black clothing and masks, police said.
- Around 2:55 a.m. on June 17, three carjackers who all displayed handguns got away with a man’s Mercedes AMG GT63 — a car that retails for over $150,000 — in the South Loop.
- That night, carjackers shot and critically wounded a 35-year-old man as they tried to take his Jeep Trailhawk in the Gold Coast.
- A food delivery driver was battered and carjacked Saturday evening on the 1500 block of North Wells in Old Town.
- A group of carjackers battered a 32-year-old man and took his Volkswagen Atlas at gunpoint near 9th and State streets in the Loop around 6:29 p.m. Sunday.
- In Boystown, a driver escaped from an armed carjacking attempt at the intersection of Halsted and Belmont shortly before 1 am. Tuesday. A few minutes later, an Evanston man was carjacked by three men who knocked on his car window with a gun in the 100 block of North Green in West Town.
Carjacking reports have increased every month since March, according to the city’s data. There were 83 hijackings citywide that month, 98 in April, and 111 in May. Through June 12, this month was on-pace to record 120 cases. January 2021 had 215 hijackings — more than any month in the 20-year history of Chicago’s publicly available crime data.