CHICAGO — Prosecutors say an 18-year-old man teamed up with a 14-year-old girl to carjack and kidnap a woman who was sitting in a car outside a West Loop post office on Tuesday afternoon.
CWBChicago first told you about the hijacking yesterday. Now, Chicago police have identified the adult carjacker as Taylen Byndum, 18, of Bolingbrook.
The 29-year-old woman and a 1-year-old girl waited in the back seat of a 2019 Toyota sedan while the woman’s husband ran into the post office at 433 West Harrison around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, according to a CPD report.
When the man returned outside, he found his car, wife, and baby gone. According to a witness who spoke with the man, this was particularly upsetting for him because the woman doesn’t drive.
A Chicago police spokesperson said Byndum and the 14-year-old girl hopped into the front seat of the Toyota and drove away with the woman and child still in the back seat. Ultimately, the hijackers displayed two guns and forced the woman and baby from the car near Harrison and Paulina, according to the spokesperson. The victims were not injured.
Cops located the car and arrested Byndum and the 14-year-old in the 3500 block of South King Drive around 3:53 p.m., officials said.
Byndum is charged with aggravated vehicular hijacking with a firearm, aggravated vehicular hijacking with a passenger under 16, kidnapping while armed with a firearm, and kidnapping a child younger than 13. He will appear at 26th and California for a detention hearing on Thursday afternoon.
The girl is charged with aggravated vehicular hijacking with a firearm, armed kidnapping, and possessing a stolen motor vehicle. No other details are available about her because she is a juvenile.
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