Armed carjackers forced a man out of his car in downtown Chicago on Sunday morning, according to a bulletin from DePaul University’s public safety office. But, as CWBChicago predicted earlier this month, hijacking reports are down sharply during October. In fact, the city’s carjacking pace is now trailing last year’s record rate.
DePaul’s alert said a man was sitting in his car outside the school’s Richard M. and Maggie C. Daley Building, 14 East Jackson, when a black sedan pulled up next to him around 5:30 a.m.
Two men got out of the black car, displayed guns, and pulled the victim from his vehicle, the school said. They then drove away in the 48-year-old victim’s white BMW 440i. The black sedan followed the hijacked vehicle. DePaul said the man’s wallet, keys, and phone were still in the car.
A CPD report preliminarily described the hijackers as two Black males who may be juveniles. One wore all-black clothing with white gym shoes, and the other wore a black jacket, gray pants, and black gym shoes, according to DePaul.
As of October 22, Chicago police had taken 77 carjacking reports this month, down from 136 during the same period last year. Last October was the fifth-worst month for carjackings since at least January 2001, which is as far back as CPD’s publicly-available data goes.
This month is also pacing behind October 2020, which saw 103 hijackings through the first 22 days. According to the city’s data, that was the 12th worst month for carjackings.
Chicago had 1,354 carjackings reported year-to-date through October 22, down from 1,383 during the same period last year.
