A man who carjacked a driver while armed with a Swiss Army knife attached to a stick has been sentenced to eight years in prison. In January 2024, four days after a judge released Kendall Johnson to await trial on a misdemeanor criminal damage charge, the 51-year-old approached a man’s vehicle in a strip mall parking lot, prosecutors said.
The 40-year-old driver was waiting for his wife to come out of a store in the 6800 block of South Stony Island Avenue when Johnson tapped on his window with a “rifle-shaped object” covered by a black plastic bag, prosecutors said.
Johnson pointed the weapon, which turned out to be a stick with a Swiss Army knife attached to it, at the victim’s head and demanded money, according to prosecutors. A struggle broke out when the victim pushed the homemade weapon away from his head. Prosecutors said Johnson grabbed the victim’s fanny pack during the fight and pulled until it broke, causing Johnson to tumble to the ground.
The victim took that opportunity to crawl out through the passenger-side door. Johnson chased him into a laundromat, where the victim hid, then pursued him a second time, prosecutors said in a detention petition.
Johnson allegedly returned to the man’s 2003 Hyundai Santa Fe and drove away.
Chicago police officers located the vehicle a few minutes later using the city’s license plate reader network. Johnson pulled over when officers activated their emergency lights, and they arrested him after the victim identified him as the assailant.
Court records show Johnson pleaded guilty to aggravated vehicular hijacking with a weapon to resolve the case. Judge James Novy sentenced him to eight years in prison, a term that will be reduced by 830 days Johnson spent in custody, and more than 500 days of additional credit he earned while in jail. Combined with the state’s standard 50% sentence reduction, Johnson is currently scheduled for release on August 6.
