Carjackers took a man’s SUV at gunpoint in the parking of a Lincoln Park convenience store early Sunday, according to a CPD report. The hijacking continues a sharp increase in carjacking cases during March compared to the same month last year.
A 51-year-old man was parked outside 7-Eleven, 2600 North Lincoln, when a hijacker walked up to him with a handgun around 2:39 a.m., a CPD spokesperson said.
The carjacker took control of the victim’s black Infinity SUV, and two other men climbed inside, according to the spokesperson. It was last seen heading north on Lincoln.
Chicago police license plate readers tracked the car south on the Dan Ryan Expressway to the Far South Side. No arrests have been made.
Police described the suspects as Black males between 21- and 29-years-old. The gunman wore a mask.
Hijackings are up in Lincoln Park so far this year. Sunday’s was the eighth of the year. The neighborhood had five at this point last year and only one case at this point in 2020 and three in 2019, according to city records.
As of March 20, there were 384 carjackings reported in Chicago this year, down slightly from 392 during the same period in 2021. There were 181 cases by March 20, 2020, and 99 cases in 2019.
But carjacking reports this month, 84 cases as of the 20th, are far ahead of the 50 incidents reported during the same period last year. There were 40 in 2020 and 20 in 2019.
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