An 18-year-old who is charged with hijacking and trying to rob a 69-year-old Northwest Side woman at gunpoint on St. Patrick’s Day was already accused of carjacking once this year, prosecutors said. But the earlier hijacking took place before he turned 18. It’s pending in juvenile court.
Perhaps accustomed to the friendly confines of juvenile justice, he received a decidedly hard landing during his debut in adult court Friday: a no-bail hold from Judge Barbara Dawkins.
The woman was warming up her car on the 7100 block of West Summerdale when Damajae Mitchell and another man appeared outside her driver’s door around 6:10 a.m., Assistant State’s Attorney Loukas Kalliantasis said. Mitchell allegedly ordered her out at gunpoint.
She ran to a nearby home and began ringing the doorbell for help.
Mitchell and the other man began to drive away with the woman’s Chevy Equinox, but the car stopped and Mitchell got out to confront the woman at the home where she was trying to get help, said Kalliantasis.
The home’s Ring doorbell was recording as Mitchell held a gun to the woman and demanded her key fob, Kalliantasis continued. She couldn’t find it, and Mitchell allegedly returned to the car, leaving the area.
Police tracked the car via GPS and tried to pull it over as Mitchell was driving on the 1100 block of East 82nd Street. He crashed it into a viaduct column, Kalliantasis said. Mitchell put the car into reverse as cops approached on foot, smashed into several parked cars, then got out and ran across the tops of several vehicles before police caught him, according to Kalliantasis.
Officers allegedly found an unloaded handgun on the rear driver’s side floorboard.
Kalliantasis said Mitchell identified himself in the Ring doorbell video and admitted that the gun police found in the car was used in the hijacking. The victim, however, could not identify Mitchell because he was wearing a mask, Kalliantasis continued.
Prosecutors charged Mitchell with felony counts of aggravated vehicular hijacking with a firearm, aggravated vehicular hijacking of a person over the age of 60, attempted armed robbery with a firearm, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, possessing a stolen motor vehicle, and resisting police.
He is due back in court Friday.
