CHICAGO — A Chicago man has been given an 11-year sentence for carjacking a driver in November 2023, just one month after being arrested on a gun charge.
Yenajae Liddell, 20, pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicular hijacking with a weapon in exchange for the sentence from Judge James Novy.
Two days after Thanksgiving last year, Liddell and two accomplices were “lying in wait” for the 56-year-old victim in the 5400 block of South Laflin, prosecutors said in a court filing.
Liddell and one of the other hijackers pointed guns at the victim as they ordered him out of his Hyundai Santa Fe, officials said. After Liddell forced the man to surrender his money and phone, one of the carjackers slid into the driver’s seat while Liddell and the third man jumped in the passenger side, prosecutors said.
Cops responding to the victim’s 911 call saw the Santa Fe traveling on Garfield Boulevard and noticed a BMW following the hijacked vehicle. Officers arrested Liddell when he bailed out of the Hyundai in an alley.
The police also arrested an 18-year-old man who allegedly ran from the car’s driver’s seat. He told them that he had been ordered to get out of the BMW trail car and into the Hyundai’s driver’s seat, according to police. The man allegedly said he stopped the Hyundai in the alley because he didn’t want to run from the police even though Liddell “was demanding him to keep driving,” according to a CPD report.
On October 16, 2023, just over a month before the carjacking, Chicago police arrested Liddell at a gas station in the 11100 block of South Langley. In that arrest report, officers said the plates on Liddell’s car were expired, so they approached his vehicle.
During the interaction, Liddell told the officers something to the effect of, “You can search the car if you want,” the officers said in the report. They took advantage of the invitation and found a cross-body bag in the back seat containing a loaded handgun with an extended ammunition magazine, the report said.
Prosecutors charged him with misdemeanor firearm possession in that case, which is still pending.
