Police are investigating after a man was carjacked at gunpoint in Andersonville on Friday afternoon. The hijacking came about 20 minutes after a similar attempt to take a car failed in Edgewater.
The incidents are part of a sharp increase in hold-ups across the area, where robberies reached a four-year high in 2021.
First, a woman reported that she was targeted in a hijacking attempt at the corner of Lakewood and Rosemont around 1:20 p.m. She said a man displayed a handgun and tried to take her car, but he was apparently scared off. He was last seen running west on Rosemont. Police at the scene said the suspect was a man who wore a dark gaiter on his face, a brown jacket, and blue jeans.
Then, around 1:40 p.m., a man was hijacked at gunpoint as he waited for his SUV to warm up outside his home on the 1400 block of West Rascher, according to a CPD report. The victim said the gunman, described only as a man wearing a ski mask, emerged from an alley and ordered him to surrender his red Mazda CX-5 while displaying a gun.
No injuries were reported in either incident.
CPD handled 1,836 carjacking reports in 2021, up 30% from the year before and up 204% compared to 2019, according to city records.
Robberies, which include carjackings, increased 29% last year in the Rogers Park (24th) Police District, according to CPD records. The 290 hold-ups reported as of December 26 are up from 224 the year before, 226 in 2019, and 282 in 2018.
Just to the south, in the 20th (Lincoln) Police District, robberies were up 26% last year compared to 2020. There were 121 cases in the district as of December 26, up from 96 the year before, 85 in 2019, and 119 in 2018, records show.