Chicago police are investigating after a couple was carjacked at gunpoint in Edgewater on Tuesday.
It happened as the man and woman, who are both 26, were exiting their car in the 5600 block of North Winthrop around 2 a.m., according to a Chicago police spokesperson. As they stepped out of their silver 2016 BMW, an SUV pulled up next to them, and a man got out with a handgun to demand control of the vehicle.
Police said the hijacker drove the BMW south on Winthrop, then east, accompanied by the SUV.
The victims reported that the offenders were Black males who wore hoodies and masks.
Reports of carjackings have been sliding since the “Kia Boys” auto theft phenomenon took off last summer. Through February 27, the most recent data available, the city recorded 226 vehicular hijackings in 2023.
That’s down from 294 at the same time last year and 328 in 2021.
But there is a long way to go before the city returns to the levels seen before carjacking cases skyrocketed in the second half of 2020.
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