A group of carjackers opened fire on a man as he ran away from them in West Town on Tuesday evening, but the victim managed to escape without injury. He also managed to keep his car because the hijackers couldn’t figure out how to operate it.
In an unrelated case, a group of men boxed in a driver in Rogers Park and took his car at gunpoint in Rogers Park on Tuesday morning.
Here’s what we’ve learned:
Around 10:47 last night, a 61-year-old man was inside his car when three hijackers confronted him with handguns on the 600 block of North Oakley, CPD spokesperson Kellie Bartoli said.
They ordered the man out of the car. He complied, and they reportedly fired shots at him as he ran from the scene, Bartoli continued. No injuries or property damage was reported.
The men climbed into the victim’s Volkswagen Jetta, but they could not get the car moving, she said. The offenders, described as Black males wearing ski masks, were gone when police arrived.
Earlier in the day, a 22-year-old contractor was hijacked as he drove to a work site in Rogers Park.
The victim said he was in his Honda Accord on the 1400 block of West Farwell when a white four-door sedan blocked his path around 6:10 a.m.
Bartoli said that four hijackers stepped out of the sedan and demanded control of the victim’s vehicle at gunpoint. He complied, and they fled south with his car. The vehicle that boxed him in continued heading west.
Bartoli said the suspects are described as Black males between 25- and 30-years-old who wore hooded sweatshirts.
Chicago police recorded 63 carjackings through the first 11 days of January, down from 72 during the same period last year. The city saw 23 cases in the first 11 days of 2020 and 22 during the period in 2019, according to CPD data.
