A 17-year-old boy teamed up with a 14-year-old to commit a string of violent carjackings across the North Side, firing a shot at one set of victims, and killing another in Fuller Park, prosecutors say.
The younger boy was charged late last year, but public details about the allegations were limited because he is being prosecuted in juvenile court where the proceedings are shielded from the media.
But 17-year-old Dajon Meeks is charged as an adult and prosecutors provided extensive, shocking details about the crimes during his recent detention hearing.
In the hours leading up to and following the murder, Meeks and the boy allegedly carried out a series of armed hijackings in Lakeview, North Center, and Lincoln Park.
Video from a CHA building where both boys lived showed the 14-year-old climbing out of an apartment window around 4:30 a.m. on July 14, 2024. Minutes later, Meeks was seen on video running down the front walkway to a stolen Kia Optima, according to prosecutors.
About an hour later, the boys hopped out of the Kia in the 1900 block of West Irving Park Road and carjacked a woman who was driving to work with three passengers, officials said. Meeks allegedly hopped into the driver’s seat of her Mazda while the 14-year-old drove away with the Kia.
Minutes later, they abandoned the Kia in the 1900 block of Berteau.
An hour after that, around 6:40 a.m., the pair carjacked a man at the on-ramp to Lake Shore Drive at Belmont as he drove his wife to work at Northwestern Memorial Hospital, prosecutors said. Video showed the stolen BMW and Mazda traveling together to Loomis and Van Buren.
A third person joined them at the intersection and they recorded an Instagram video allegedly showing the trio outside the BMW, displaying gestures and a gun.
Around 7:51 a.m., 25-year-old Michal Ciskal, a Polish immigrant who was on his way to work, stopped at a gas station in the 5400 block of South Wells. Video showed Meeks and the 14-year-old pulling in front of Ciskal’s car and confronting him as he walked toward the gas station, prosecutors said.
The 14-year-old pointed a gun at Ciskal, who raised his right hand in front of his face. The boy fired one shot, sending a bullet through Ciskal’s hand and into his chest, according to the allegations.
Officials said Meeks grabbed Ciskal’s car keys and opened his driver’s door, but he noticed the car was a manual transmission, so he returned to the BMW and fled with the 14-year-old.
A passerby attempted CPR, but Ciskal died from his injuries. One of his coworkers who noticed his car surrounded by crime scene tape at the gas station stopped and helped the police identify him.
Investigators found the hijacked BMW abandoned in the 1400 block of West Lexington, a little over a half-mile from where the boys lived.
The boys were not finished, according to prosecutors.
They allegedly drove to Lincoln Park in the hijacked Mazda around 10 a.m. and tried to carjack a couple as they drove home from church in the 900 block of West Wrightwood. The woman had recently undergone ankle surgery and she wasn’t sure she could get out of the car as the teens ordered them out at gunpoint, prosecutors said.
As the husband tried to escape by reversing down the street, the 14-year-old fired a shot that lodged in their front passenger panel.
Meeks and the boy returned to the Mazda and fled, officials said.
Less than an hour later, Chicago police responded to a traffic crash near the boys’ apartment complex. They found the hijacked Mazda wrapped around a light pole. Video showed three people running from the wreckage, prosecutors said.
Police executed a search warrant on his home two days later. They allegedly found a handgun in a bedroom dresser along with distinctive clothing worn by one of the offenders at Ciskal’s murder scene.
Lab tests found a “high correlation” between that gun and the weapon used to murder Ciskal and to shoot at the couple in Lincoln Park, according to prosecutors. They said it also had a rubber band around its grip, just like the gun seen in the Instagram video.
Prosecutors also pointed to DNA testing that allegedly found genetic material linked to Meeks inside vehicles involved in the crime spree.
He is charged as an adult with three counts of murder. It is unclear if he faces charges for additional crimes in juvenile court. However, prosecutors said he is currently on juvenile probation for carjacking and also has a pending stolen motor vehicle case in juvenile court.
Judge Shauna Boliker detained him pending trial.
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