Lately, every morning has been the same at CWB’s office. Log on to our laptops and start compiling the daily list of hijackings and armed robberies committed across our coverage area since the day before.
It’s become a little tedious, frankly. Sometimes we wonder how it can be that, as you will read regarding yesterday evening, at least four hijackings were committed in three hours across the small part of the city we cover.
After all, less than three months ago, CPD Supt. David Brown assured the audience at a downtown business luncheon that hijacking reports were down. And earlier this month, Mayor Lori Lightfoot bragged that, except murders, every crime category is at a 25-year low in Chicago.
They were both lying through their teeth, of course.
Now, through the first nine days of December, Chicago saw 71 carjackings — up 69% compared to the same days last year and up 447% compared to the first nine days of December 2019.
You know, “down.”
Here is the latest:
Around 6 p.m. last night, a 44-year-old woman was outside her black Audi SUV near a University of Illinois Hospital facility on the 1900 block of West Taylor. Her 6-year-old daughter was inside the car when a male carjacker stepped out of a black convertible and demanded the woman’s keys.
She was able to get her little girl out of the car before tossing the keys at the offender, CPD spokesperson Kellie Bartoli said. The hijacker grabbed the keys, a second offender got into the passenger seat, and the duo drove away. Not surprisingly, the hijackers were accompanied by a tail car that was stolen just a few hours later.
CPD officers spotted the woman’s stolen Q8 in traffic a short time later, Bartoli said. They arrested four people who were inside. According to Bartoli, two of them, a 14-year-old boy and a 15-year-old girl, were released after being charged with misdemeanor criminal trespass to a vehicle. Charges against the other two were still pending this morning, she added.
Wicker Park
Two offenders hijacked a 43-year-old man on the 1200 block of North Paulina around 6:37 p.m. Bartoli said the victim was exiting his beige Hyundai Elantra when one male hijacker demanded his keys. He complied and ran away. The carjacker jumped into the driver’s seat while an accomplice scurried into the passenger side. No arrests have been made.
The suspects are two Black males wearing hoodies who stand 5’7″ to 5’10” and weigh 140 to 155 pounds.
Albany Park
Two hijackings were reported in about 15 minutes Thursday evening in Albany Park.
First, three men who were all armed with pistols confronted a 22-year-old man as he was parking his gray sedan on the 3000 block of West Eastwood around 8:13 p.m., according to a CPD report. The offenders pistol-whipped the victim when he resisted. Then, they drove away with his car. Police said the victim declined medical attention.
About 17 minutes later, three men who all displayed handguns carjacked a 32-year-old woman who was sitting in her car on the 4300 block of North Mozart, a CPD report said. They forced her out of her black 2019 Toyota Highlander, took her wallet, phone, and backpack, then drove away.
Police did not release descriptions of the Albany Park suspects.
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