Chicago — An Uber driver was carjacked at gunpoint on Wacker Drive in the Loop overnight. Chicago police believe the crime was committed by the same group that carried out nearly a dozen robberies on Saturday morning.
The Uber driver told police he was in his car on the 100 block of West Wacker when four men, all armed with guns and wearing masks, confronted him around 3:20 a.m. He said the crew put at least one handgun to his face and ordered him out of his Audi A3.
Chicago police working in the Central (1st) District surveillance room told officers via radio that the hijacking was caught on video. The footage showed the group arriving in a white Hyundai Tuscon.
Less than 10 minutes before the carjacking, CPD’s hijacking information center told officers in the Central District over the radio that a white Hyundai Tuscon used in eleven armed robberies on Saturday had been spotted in the 100 block of North Clark Street.
Chicago police found the Hyundai abandoned in an alley behind the first block of North State Street on Sunday morning.
Two of Saturday’s holdups occurred in the Loop, and another unfolded at the intersection of Michigan and Chicago avenues in the heart of the Magnificent Mile.
Chicago police have responded to similar waves of robberies recently. Officers arrested two people who ran from a stolen car that was used during a spree across River North, Wicker Park, and the West Loop on Thursday morning. The department has not announced any charges, though.
Other waves were reported on March 20, March 22, and March 27. Police are also investigating three robbery sprees that targeted 7-Eleven stores in the area. Those crimes occurred on March 27, March 29, and March 31.
Chicago police released a community alert about the robbery spree later on Saturday. In it, detectives linked all of these crimes to the same group and said the offenders, which they described as three or four Black males between 18 and 22 years old wearing dark hoodies, dark pants, and dark ski masks.