Nearly an hour after he allegedly ditched a newly hijacked car on Lake Shore Drive and fled into a Northwestern University medical school building with police in hot pursuit, Trimane Kimbrough came face-to-face with cops in the building’s basement.
“I give up,” Kimbrough said with his hands raised and one shoe missing.
His surrender came just after 2 p.m. on Monday, about an hour after the school went on lockdown while police searched for the carjacker.
Prosecutors on Wednesday charged him with aggravated vehicular hijacking with a firearm, aggravated unlawful use of a weapon, possessing a stolen motor vehicle, and several misdemeanors. Judge Mary Marubio granted the state’s request to hold Kimbrough without bail.
The chain of events began at 12:34 p.m. Monday when a 37-year-old man double parked on the 2000 block of West Arthur in West Ridge as he waited for his girlfriend. He was going to drive her to work.
While he waited, a gray 2001 Saturn pulled past his car and blocked his path, Assistant State’s Attorney James Murphy said. Kimbrough,19, allegedly stepped out of the Saturn’s passenger seat armed with a handgun.
He opened the victim’s car door, held the gun to the man’s head, and told him to get out, Murphy said. As the man stepped from the driver’s seat, Kimbrough allegedly punched him in the back of the head.
Cops, guided by CPD’s network of license plate readers, corralled the hijacked car when it stopped for the red light on southbound Lake Shore Drive at Chicago Avenue. Kimbrough left the car in drive and ran into Streeterville, Murphy said. The allegedly stolen vehicle stopped after colliding with a squad car.
Kimbrough received text messages as he tried to evade police inside the medical school building, Murphy said.
“Try to get low,” said one.
“Change yo clothes,” said another.
The police allegedly found Kimbrough’s jacket, mask, and shoes in the stairwells of the Northwestern building. Cops also found a loaded handgun on the floorboard of the hijacked car, Murphy continued. It was also stolen, he said.
And the Saturn that Kimbrough allegedly stepped out of before the hijacking was reported stolen on March 2. Police still haven’t found it, according to Murphy.
A defense attorney said Kimbrough works as a security guard and attends Lincoln College.
Kimbrough, who has no criminal convictions, is due back in court on May 11.