An armed carjacking team took a man’s Cadillac at gunpoint in River North on Thursday evening and then hijacked a rideshare driver in Andersonville two hours later. Two members of the crew were arrested after they crashed the second vehicle in Edgewater. The rest of the group continued committing crimes, apparently unaware of their colleagues’ fate.
It all started when the crew hijacked a livery driver on the first block of West Grand, near Dearborn around 11:30 p.m.
Police said a carjacker ordered the driver out of his Cadillac XTS at gunpoint and then pistol-whipped him in the face as he exited the car. The victim said the gunman got into the driver’s seat and a second hijacker entered the passenger side before they drove away westbound. EMS treated the man for a laceration above his eye.
About three minutes later, two men approached the front doors of a 57-year-old woman’s Honda Civic as she sat in front of a steakhouse on the first block of West Kinzie. The man on the driver’s side displayed a gun and ordered the woman to get out, but she stepped on the gas and got away, a CPD spokesperson said.
About 45 minutes after the Cadillac was taken, a 65-year-old rideshare driver was carjacked at gunpoint as he sat in his Hyundai Elantra on the 1400 block of West Foster in Andersonville, police said.
Two men demanded the victim’s car while displaying a handgun and then drove away. A witness followed the hijacked vehicle and police located the car moments later near a 7-Eleven at Foster and Western. Also with the freshly-hijacked Hyundai was the Cadillac taken in River North.
Police followed the Hyundai until it crashed into a fire hydrant on the 1600 block of West Thorndale. Cops arrested two 18-year-old men and recovered a handgun, according to CPD. Charges are pending.
Meanwhile, still traveling in the hijacked Cadillac, the rest of the crew continued committing crimes.
On the 2100 block of West Lawrence, a masked man with a silver gun jumped out of the Cadillac and tried to carjack a woman. She managed to evade the hijackers and called the police. A CPD spokesperson confirmed that police responded to the woman’s call, but no report was filed.
Two more robberies were reported in the area, but it’s unclear if they are linked to the hijackings.
Shortly before 2 a.m., three armed and masked men stepped out of a silver vehicle and pistol-whipped a 53-year-old man as he walked on the 1700 block of West Farwell in Rogers Park, a CPD spokesperson said.
They took the victim’s property at gunpoint and then headed north in the silver car with the victim’s wallet, phone, and keys.
Two more victims, a 34-year-old man and a 34-year-old woman, called 911 after being robbed at gunpoint on the 1400 block of Wast Balmoral in Andersonville around 2:05 a.m. They told police that two men stepped out of an alley, displayed a gun, and demanded their property, according to a CPD spokesperson. The men fled in a black SUV that headed north into the alley.
Friday marks the fourth consecutive night that waves of robberies have been reported across the city’s downtown, North Side, and Near West Side neighborhoods. At least three incidents were reported early Thursday in Lakeview and Rogers Park. Twelve people were robbed early Wednesday. Others were targeted in a string of crimes Tuesday.
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