Police are investigating carjackings reported Thursday evening in River North and West Town. Separately, a woman was robbed at gunpoint in Wicker Park early today. Here’s what we have learned:
In River North, a 61-year-old man was sitting in a gray Honda Civic that was parked on the 100 block of West Grand when another man opened the driver’s side door and pulled him out around 10:46 p.m., said Kellie Bartoli, a CPD spokesperson. He got into the car and drove away, heading west on Grand.
Initial reports indicated that the victim was a valet attendant for a local restaurant. Bartoli said he declined medical attention. No suspect description was available.
Earlier, two armed men robbed and carjacked two women on the 1800 block of West Superior in West Town. The women, ages 31 and 19, were stepping out of their car in an alley when a black sedan rolled up and two men exited with handguns, Bartoli said.
She said the men went through the women’s pockets and took their valuables. One of the men drove away with the victims’ brown Toyota Camry while the other fled in the black sedan that they arrived in, which may be a Mitsubishi.
Bartoli said the suspects are Black males between 25- and 30-years-old, slim, and stand 6’1″ or 6’2″ tall.
Then, at 12:52 a.m. Friday, two men robbed a 27-year-old woman at gunpoint at the corner of Damen and Schiller, according to a CPD report. After taking the woman’s purse and other property, the men fled south on Damen in a gray car.
No arrests have been made in any of the incidents. Area Three detectives are handling the investigations.
According to the city’s data, there were 152 carjacking reports filed with CPD during the first 27 days of this year. That’s down from 200 cases during the same period last year, but there’s still a long way to go to get hijacking cases back to the 61 cases seen during the same time in 2020 and the 44 reported in 2019.
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