An Evanston man was carjacked in West Town early Tuesday, just minutes after another driver escaped a carjacking attempt in Boystown, according to CPD and dispatch records.
Shortly before 1 a.m., a driver told police that four men in a gray Infiniti SUV displayed a handgun and tried to carjack them of their Nissan Rogue at the intersection of Halsted and Belmont in Boystown. The would-be victim managed to evade the offenders, who fled southbound on Halsted in the Infiniti.
Just a few minutes later, an Evanston man was carjacked by three men on the 100 block of North Green in West Town, police said. The 39-year-old victim told police he was sleeping in his car when the hijackers knocked on his window with a handgun and ordered him out around 1 a.m., according to a CPD statement.
He complied with their orders and the carjackers drove away with his white 2017 Hyundai Sonata. The stolen car was last seen heading westbound on Hubbard Street. A few minutes later, the victim flagged down a patrol car to report the hijacking.
The Boystown victim said there were four Black males in the SUV used in the carjacking attempt. In West Town, the victim said the people who knocked on his window with a gun were three Black males in their 20’s who wore hoodies.
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.